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OMEGA:

THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD

CAMILLE FLAMMARION

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

JEAN PAUL LAURENS, SAUNIER, MEAULLE, VOGEL, ROCHEGROSSE, GERADIN,
CHOVIN, TOUSSAINT, GUILLONNET, SCHWABE, AND OTHERS

NEW YORK :
THE COSMOPOLITAN PUBLISHING COMPANY

BY
J. B. WALKER

OMEGA:

THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

magnificent marble bridge which unites the Rue
de Rennes with the Rue de Louvre, and which, lined
with the statues of celebrated scientists and philosophers,
emphasizes the monumental avenue leading to the new
portico of the Institute, was absolutely black with people.
A heaving crowd surged, rather than walked, along the

8 OMEGA.

quays, flowing out from every street and pressing forward
toward the portico, long before invaded by a tumultuous
throng. Never, in that barbarous age preceding the con-
stitution of the United States of Europe, when might was
greater than right, when military despotism ruled the
world and foolish humanity quivered in the relentless
grasp of war never before in the stormy period of a
great revolution, or in those feverish days which accom-
panied a declaration of war, had the approaches of the
house of the people's representatives, or the Place de la
Concorde presented such a spectacle. It was no longer
the case of a band of fanatics rallied about a flag, marching
to some conquest of the sword, and followed by a throng
of the curious and the idle, eager to see what would hap-
pen; but of the entire population, anxious, agitated, terri-
fied, composed of every class of society without distinction,
hanging upon the decision of an oracle, waiting feverishly
the result of the calculations which a celebrated astrono-
mer was to announce that very Monday, at three o'clock,
in the session of the Academy of Sciences. Amid the flux
of politics and society the Institute survived, maintaining
still in Europe its supremacy in science, literature and art.
The center of civilization, however, had moved westward,
and the focus of progress shone on the shores of Lake
Michigan, in North America.

This new palace of the Institute, with its lofty domes
and terraces, had been erected upon the ruins remaining

O ME G A .

after the great social revolution of the international an-
archists who, in 1950, had blown up the greater portion
of the metropolis as from the vent of a crater.

On the Sunday even-
ing before, one might
have seen from the car
of a balloon all Paris
abroad upon the boule-
vards and public squares,
circulating slowly and
as if in despair, without
interest in anything.
The gay aerial ships no
longer cleaved the air ;
aeroplanes and aviators
had all ceased to circu-
late. The aerial stations
upon the summits of
the towers and build-
ings were empty and de-
serted. The course of
human life seemed ar-
rested, and anxiety was
depicted upon every face.
Strangers addressed each
other without hesitation ;

THK STREETS OF PARIS BY NIGHT. Slid t>llt OUC qUCStlOn fell

10 OMEGA.

from pale and trembling lips: "Is it then true?" The
most deadly pestilence would have carried far less terror
to the heart than the astronomical prediction on every
tongue ; it would have made fewer victims, for already,
from some unknown cause, the death-rate was increasing.
At every instant one felt the electric shock of a terrible
fear.

A few, less dismayed, wished to appear more confident,
and sounded now and then a note of doubt, even of hope,
as : " It may prove a mistake ; " or, u It will pass on one
side ; " or, again : " It will amount to nothing ; we shall
get off with a fright," and other like assurances.

But expectation and uncertainty are often more terrible
than the catastrophe itself. A brutal blow knocks us
down once for all, prostrating us more or less completely.
We come to our senses, we make the best of it, we recover,
and take up life again. But this was the unknown, the
expectation of something inevitable but mysterious, terri-
ble, coming from without the range of experience. One
was to die, without doubt, but how ? By the sudden shock
of collision, crushed to death ? By fire, the conflagration
of a world ? By suffocation, the poisoning of the atmos-
phere ? What torture awaited humanity ? Apprehension
was perhaps more frightful than the reality itself. The
mind cannot suffer beyond a certain limit. To suffer by
inches, to ask every evening what the morning may bring,
is to surfer a thousand deaths. Terror, that terror which

OMEGA .

congeals the blood in the veins, which annihilates the cour-
age, haunted the shuddering soul like an invisible spectre.

For more than a
month the business
of the world had
been suspended ; a
fortnight before the
committee of ad-
ministrators (for-
merly the chamber
and senate) had
adjourned, every
other question hav-
ing sunk into in-
significance. For a
week the exchanges
of Paris, London,
New York and Pek-
in, had closed their
doors. What was
the use of occupy-
ing oneself with
business affairs,
with questions of
internal or foreign
policy, of revenue
or of reform, if the

THE OBSERVATORY ON GAURISANKAR.

12 OMEGA.

end of the world was at hand ? Politics, indeed ! Did
one even remember to have ever taken any interest in
them ? The courts themselves had no cases ; one does
not murder when one expects the end of the world.
Humanity no longer attached importance to anything ;
its heart beat furiously, as if about to stop forever.
Every face was emaciated, every countenance discom-
posed, and haggard with sleeplessness. Feminine coquetry
alone held out, but in a superficial, hesitating, furtive
manner, without thought of the morrow.

The situation was indeed serious, almost desperate, even
in the eyes of the most stoical. Never, in the whole
course of history had the race of Adam found itself face
to face with such a peril. The portents of the sky con-
fronted it unceasingly with a question of life and death.

But, let us go back to the beginning.

Three months before the day of which we speak, the
director of the observatory of Mount Gaurisankar had sent
the following telephonic message to the principal observa-
tories of the globe, and especially to that of Paris : *

"A telescopic comet discovered tonight, in 290, 15'
right ascension, and 21, 54' south declination. Slight
diurnal motion. Is of greenish hue."

Not a month passed without the discovery of telescopic

* For about 300 years the observatory of Paris had ceased to be an observing sta-
tion, and had been perpetuated only as the central administrative bureau of French
astronomy. Astronomical observations were made under far more satisfactory con-
ditions upon mountain summits in a pure atmosphere, free from disturbing influences.
Observers were in direct and constant communication by telephone with the central
office, whose instruments were used only to verify certain discoveries or to satisfy the
curiosity of savants detained in Paris by their sedentary occupation.

OMEGA. 13

comets, and their announcement to the various observa-
tories, especially since the installation of intrepid astrono-
mers in Asia on the lofty peaks of Gaurisankar, Dapsang
and Kanchinjinga ; in South America, on Aconcagua,
Illampon and Chimborazo, as also . in Africa on Kiliman-
jaro, and in Kurope on Hlburz and Mont Blanc. This
announcement, therefore, had not excited more comment
among astronomers than any other of a like nature which
they were constantly receiving. A large number of ob-
servers had sought the comet in the position indicated, and
had carefully followed its motion. Their observations
had been published in the Neuastronomischenachrichten,
and a German mathematician had calculated a provisional
orbit and ephemeris.

Scarcely had this orbit and ephemeris been published,
when a Japanese scientist made a very remarkable sugges-
tion. According to these calculations, the comet was ap-
proaching the sun from infinite space in a plane but
slightly inclined to that of the ecliptic, an extremely rare
occurrence, and, moreover, would traverse the orbit of
Saturn. " It \vould be exceedingly interesting," he re-
marked, u to multiply observations and revise the calcula-
tion of the orbit, with a view to determining whether the
comet will come in collision with the rings of Saturn ; for
this planet will be exactly at that point of its path inter-
sected by the orbit of the comet, on the day of the latter 's
arrival."

OMEGA.

A young
Institute, a
the director-
observatory,
on this sug-
installed her-
ephone office
capture on the

laureate of the
candidate for
ship for the
acting at once
gestion, had
self at the tel-
iii order to
wing every

THE YOUNG LAUREATE.

message. In less than ten days she had intercepted
more than one hundred despatches, and, without losing
an instant, had devoted three nights and days to a
revision of the orbit as based on this entire series of
observations. The result proved that the German com-
puter had committed an error in determining the peri-
helion distance and that the inference drawn by the
Japanese astronomer was inexact in so far as the date
of the comet's passage through the plane of the ecliptic
was concerned, this date being five or six days earlier
than that first announced ; but the interest in the
problem increased, for the minimum distance of the
comet from the earth seemed now less than the Japanese
calculator had thought possible. Setting aside for the
moment, the question of a collision, it was hoped that the
enormous perturbation which would result from the at-
traction of the earth and moon would afford a new method
of determining with exhaustive precision the mass of both
these bodies, and perhaps even throw important light upon

OMEGA. 15

the density of the earth's interior. It was, indeed, estab-
lished that the celestial visitor was moving in a plane
nearly coincident with that of the ecliptic, and would pass
near the system of Saturn, whose attraction would prob-
ably modify to a sensible degree the primitive parabolic
orbit, bringing it nearer to the belated planet. But the
comet, after traversing the orbits of Jupiter and of Mars,
was then to enter exactly that described annually by the
earth about the sun. The interest of astronomers was not
on this account any the less keen, and the young compu-
ter insisted more forcibly than ever upon the importance
of numerous and exact observations.

It was at the observatory of Gaurisankar especially that
. the study of the comet's elements was prosecuted. On
this highest elevation of the globe, at an altitude of 8000
meters, among eternal snows which, by newly discovered
processes of electro-chemistry, were kept at a distance of
several kilometers from the station, towering almost always
many hundred meters above the highest clouds, in a pure
and rarified atmosphere, the visual power of both the eye
and the telescope was increased a hundred fold. The cra-
ters of the moon, the satellites of Jupiter, and the phases
of Venus could be readily distinguished by the naked eye.
For nine or ten generations several families of astronomers
had lived upon this Asiatic summit, and had gradually be-
come accustomed to its rare atmosphere. The first comers
had succumbed ; but science and industry had succeeded

16 OMEGA.

in modifying the rigors of the temperature by the storage
of solar heat, and acclimatization slowly took place ; as in
former times, at Quito and Bogota, where, in the eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries, a contented population
lived in plenty, and young women might be seen dancing
all night long without fatigue ; whereas on Mont Blanc in
Europe, at the same elevation, a few steps only were at-
tended with painful respiration. By degrees a small col-
ony was installed upon the slopes of the Himalayas, and,
through their researches and discoveries, the observatory
had acquired the reputation of being the first in the world.
Its principal instrument was the celebrated equatorial
of one hundred meters focal length, by whose aid the
hieroglyphic signals, addressed in vain for several thou-
sand years by the inhabitants of the planet Mars to the
earth, had finally been deciphered.

While the astronomers of Europe were discussing the
orbit of the new comet and establishing the precision of
the computations which foretold its convergence upon the
earth and the collision of the two bodies in space, a new
phonographic message was sent out from the Himalayan
observatory :

" The comet will soon become visible to the naked eye.
Still of greenish hue. Its course is earthward."

The complete agreement between the astronomical data,
whether from European, American, or Asiatic sources,
could leave no further doubt of their exactness. The daily

OMEGA. 17

papers sowed broadcast this alarming news, embellished
with sinister comments and numberless interviews in
which the most astonishing statements were attributed to
scientists. Their only concern was to outdo the ascer-
tained facts, and to exaggerate their bearing by more or
less fanciful additions. As for that matter, the journals
of the world had long since become purely business enter-
prises. The sole preoccupation of each was to sell every
day the greatest possible number of copies. They in-
vented false news, travestied the truth, dishonored men
and women, spread scandal, lied without shame, explained
the devices of thieves and murderers, published the for-
mulae of recently invented explosives, imperilled their
own readers and betrayed every class of society, for the
sole purpose of exciting to the highest pitch the curi-
osity of the public and of "selling copies."

Everything had become a pure matter of business. For
science, art, literature, philosophy, study and research, the
press cared nothing. An acrobat, a runner or a jockey, an
air-ship or water-velocipede, attained more celebrity in a
day than the most eminent scientist, or the most ingenious
inventor for these two classes made no return to the
stockholders. Everything was adroitly decked out with
the rhetoric of patriotism, a sentiment which still ex-
ercised some empire over the minds of men. In short,
from every point of view, the pecuniary interests of the
publication dominated all considerations of public interest

OMEGA .

and general progress. Of all this the public had been for
a long time the dupe ; but, at the time of which we are
now speaking, it had surrendered to the situation, so that
there was no longer any newspaper, properly speaking,
but only sheets of notices and advertisements of a com-
mercial nature. Neither the first announcement of the
press, that a comet was approaching with a high velocity
and would collide w r ith the earth at a date already deter-
mined ; nor the second, that the wandering star might
bring about a general catastrophe by rendering the atmos-
phere irrespirable, had produced the slightest impression ;
this two-fold prophecy, if noticed at all by the heedless
reader, had been received with profound incredulity, at-
tracting no more attention than the simultaneous an-
nouncement of the discovery of
the fountain of perpetual youth
in the cellars of the Palais des
Fees on Montmartre (erected on
the ruins of the cathedral of the
Sacre-Cceur).

Moreover, astronomers them-
selves had not, at first, evinced
any anxiety about the collision,
so far as it affected the fate of
humanity, and the astronomical
journals (which alone retained
any semblance of authority) had

A SHOWER OF STARS.

OMEGA. i 9

as yet referred to the subject simply as a computation
to be verified. Scientists had treated the problem as one
of pure mathematics, regarding it only as an interesting
case of celestial mechanics. In the interviews to which
they had been subjected they had contented themselves
with saying that a collision was possible, even probable,
but of no interest to the public.

Meanwhile, a new message was received by telephone,
this time from Mount Hamilton in California, which pro-
duced a sensation among the chemists and physiologists :

" Spectroscopic observation establishes the fact that the
comet is a body of considerable density, composed of sev-
eral gases the chief of which is carbonic-oxide."

Matters were becoming serious. That a collision with
the earth would occur was certain. If astronomers were
not especially preoccupied by this fact, accustomed as they
were for centuries to consider these celestial conjunctions
as harmless : if the most celebrated even of their number
had, at last, coldly shown the door to the many beardless
reporters constantly importuning them, declaring that this
prediction was of no interest to the people at large and
was a strictly astronomical question which did not concern
them, physicians, on the other hand, had begun to agitate
the subject and to discuss gravely, among each other, the
possibilities of asphyxia, or poisoning. Less indifferent
to public opinion, so far from turning a cold shoulder to
the journalists, they had welcomed them, and in a few

20 OMEGA.

days the subject suddenly entered upon a new phase.
From the domain of astronomy it had passed into that of
philosophy, and the name of every well-known or famous
physician appeared in large letters on the title-pages of the
daily papers ; their portraits were reproduced in the illus-
trated journals, and the formula, " Interviews on the
Comet," was to be seen on every hand. Already, even,
the variety and diversity of conflicting opinions had
created hostile camps, which hurled at each other the
most grotesque abuse, and asserted that all physicians
were "charlatans eager for notoriety."

In the mean time the director of the Paris observatory
having at heart the interests of science, was profoundly
disturbed by an uproar which had more than once, on
former occasions, singularly misrepresented astronomical
facts. He was a venerable old man who had grown gray
in the study of the great problems of the constitution of
the universe. His utterances were respected by all, and
he had decided to make a statement to the press in which
he declared that all conjectures, made prior to the tech-
nical discussion authorized by the Institute, were prema-
ture.

It has been remarked, we believe, that the Paris observa-
tory, always in the van of every scientific movement, by
virtue of the labors of its members, and more especially,
of improved methods of observation, had become, on the
one hand, the sanctuary of theoretical research, and on the

OMEGA

tiy yuan Paul Lauren*.

22 OMEGA.

other the central telephone bureau for stations established
at a distance from the great cities on elevations favored
by a perfectly transparent atmosphere.

It was an asylum of peace, where perfect concord
reigned, where astronomers disinterestedly consecrated
their whole lives to the advancement of science, and mu-
tually encouraged each other, without experiencing any
of the pangs of envy, each forgetting his own merit to
proclaim that of his colleagues. The director set the
example, and when he spoke it was in the name of all.

He published a technical discussion, and he was listened
to for a moment. For the question appeared to be no
longer one of astronomy. No one denied or disputed the
meeting of the comet with the earth. That was a fact
which mathematics had rendered certain. The absorb-
ing question now was the chemical constitution of the
comet. If the earth, in its passage through it, was to lose
the oxygen of its atmosphere, death by asphyxia was in-
evitable ; if, on the other hand, the nitrogen was to com-
bine with the cometary gases, death was still certain ; but
death preceded by an ungovernable exhilaration, a sort of
universal intoxication, a wild delirium of the senses being
the necessary result of the extraction of nitrogen from the
respirable air and the proportionate increase of oxygen.

The spectroscope indicated especially the presence of
carbonic-oxide in the chemical constitution of the comet.
The chief point under discussion in the scientific reviews

OMEGA. 23

was whether the mixture of this noxious gas with the
atmosphere would poison the entire population of the
globe, human and animal, as the president of the academy
of medicine affirmed would be the case.

Carbonic-oxide ! Nothing else was talked of. The
spectroscope could not be in error. Its methods were too
sure, its processes too precise. Hverybody knew that the
smallest admixture of this gas with the air we breathe
meant a speedy death. Now, a later despatch from the
observatory of Gaurisankar had more than confirmed that
received from Mount Hamilton. This despatch read :

" The earth will be completely submerged in the nu-
cleus of the comet, whose diameter is already thirty times
that of the globe and is daily increasing."

Thirty times the diameter of the earth ! Kven then,
though the comet should pass between the earth and the
moon, it would touch them both, since a bridge of thirty
earths would span the distance between our world and the
moon.

Then, too, during the three months whose history we
have recapitulated, the comet had emerged from regions
accessible only to the telescope and had become visible to
the naked eye. In full view of the earth it hovered now
like a threat from heaven among the army of stars. Ter-
ror itself, advancing slowly but inexorably, was suspended
like a mighty sword above every head. A last effort was
made, not indeed to turn the comet from its path an idea

24 OMEGA.

conceived by that class of visionaries who recoil before
nothing, and who had even imagined that an electric
storm of vast magnitude might be produced by batteries
suitably distributed over that face of the globe which was
to receive the shock but to examine once more the great
problem under every aspect, and perhaps to reassure the
public mind and rekindle hope by the discovery of some
error in the conclusions which had been drawn, some
forgotten fact in the observations or computations. This
collision might not after all prove so fatal as the pes-
simists had foretold. A general presentation of the
case from every point of view was announced for this
very Monday at the Institute, just four days before the
prophesied moment of collision, which would take place
on Friday, July i3th. The most celebrated astronomer
of France, at that time director of the Paris observatory ;
the president of the academy of medicine, an eminent
physiologist and chemist ; the president of the astronom-
ical society, a skillful mathematician, and other orators
also, among them a woman distinguished for her discov-
eries in the physical sciences, were among the speakers
announced. The last word had not yet been spoken. L,et
us enter the venerable dome and listen to the discussion.
But before doing so, let us ourselves consider this
famous comet which for the time being absorbed every
thought.

CHAPTER II.

THE stranger had emerged slowly from the depths of
space. Instead of appearing suddenly, as more than once
the great comets have been observed to do, either be-
cause coming into view immediately after their perihelion
passage, or after a long ser-
ies of storms or moonlight
nights has prevented the
search of the sky by the
comet-seekers this float-
ing star-mist had at first
remained in regions visible
only to the telescope, and
had been watched only by
astronomers. For several
days after its discovery,
none but the most power-
ful equatorials of the ob-
servatories could detect its
presence. But the well-
informed were not slow to
examine it for themselves.
Every modern house was
crowded with a terrace,

THK STRKET TELESCOPES.

26 OMEGA.

partly for the purpose of facilitating aerial embarkations.
Many of them were provided with revolving' domes. Few
well-to-do families were without a telescope, and no
home was complete without a library, well furnished with
scientific books.

The comet had been observed by everybody, so to
speak, from the instant it became visible to instruments
of moderate power. As for the laboring classes, whose
leisure moments were always provided for, the telescopes
set up in the public squares had been surrounded by im-
patient crowds from the first moment of visibility, and
every evening the receipts of these astronomers of the
open air had been incredible and without precedent.
Many workmen, too, had their own instruments, especially
in the provinces, and justice, as well as truth, compels us
to acknowledge that the first discoverer of the comet (out-
side of the professional observers) had not been a man of
the world, a person of importance, or an academician, but
a plain workman of the town of Soissons, who passed the
greater portion of his nights under the stars, and who had
succeeded in purchasing out of his laboriously accumu-
lated savings an excellent little telescope with which he
was in the habit of studying the wonders of the sky.
And it is a notable fact that prior to the twenty-fourth
century, nearly all the inhabitants of the earth had lived
without knowing where they were, without even feeling
the curiosity to ask, like blind men, with no other preoc-

OMEGA.

cupation than the satisfaction of their appetites ; but
within a hundred years the human race had begun to
observe and reason upon the universe about them.

To understand the path of the comet through space, it
will be sufficient to examine carefully the accompanying
chart. It represents the comet coming from infinite space
obliquely towards the earth, and afterwards falling into
the sun which does not arrest it in its passage toward
perihelion. No account has been taken of the perturba-
tion caused by the earth's attraction, whose effect would
be to bring the comet nearer to the earth's orbit. All the
comets which gravitate about the sun and they are
numerous describe similar elongated orbits, ellipses,
one of whose foci is occupied by the solar star. The
drawing on page 33 gives an idea of the intersections of
the cometary and planetary orbits, and the orbit of the

28 OMEGA.

earth about the sun. On studying these intersections, we
perceive that a collision is neither an impossible nor
an abnormal event.

The comet was now visible to the naked eye. On the
night of the new moon, the atmosphere being perfectly
clear, it had been detected by a few keen eyes without the
aid of a glass, not far from the zenith near the edge of the
milky way to the south of the star Omicron in the con
stellation of Andromeda, as a pale nebula, like a puff of
very light smoke, quite small, almost round, slightly elon-
gated in a direction opposed to that of the sun a gaseous
elongation, outlining a rudimentary tail. This, indeed,
had been its appearance since its first discovery by the
telescope. From its inoffensive aspect no one could have
suspected the tragic role which this new star was to play
in the history of humanity. Analysis alone indicated its
march toward the earth.

But the mysterious star approached rapidly. The very
next day the half of those who searched for it had detected
it, and the following day only the near-sighted, with eye-
glasses of insufficient power, had failed to make it out.
In less than a week every one had seen it. In all the
public squares, in every city, in every village, groups were
to be seen watching it, or showing it to others.

Day by day it increased in size. The telescope began
to distinguish distinctly a luminous nucleus. The excite-
ment increased at the same time, invading every mind.

OMEGA. 29

THE COMET AS SEEN AT PARIS.

When, after the first quarter and during the full moon,
it appeared to remain stationary and even to lose some-
thing of its brilliancy, as it had been expected to grow
rapidly larger, it was hoped that some error had crept into
the computations, and a period of tranquillity and relief
followed. After the full moon the barometer fell rapidly.
A violent storm-center, coming from the Atlantic, passed
north of the British Isles. For twelve days the sky was
entirely obscured over nearly the whole of Europe.

Once more the sun shone in purified atmosphere, the
clouds dissolved and the blue sky reappeared pure and un-
obscured ; it was not without emotion that men waited for
the setting of the sun especially as several aerial expedi-
tions had succeeded in rising above the cloud-belts, and
aeronauts had asserted that the comet was visibly larger,
Telephone messages sent out from the mountains of Asia
and America announced also its rapid approach. But

.?<? OMEGA.

great was the surprise when at nightfall every eye was
turned heavenward to seek the flaming star. It was no
longer a comet, a classic comet such as one had seen
before, but an aurora borealis of a new kind, a gigantic
celestial fan, with seven branches, shooting into space
seven greenish streamers, which appeared to issue from a
point hidden below the horizon.

No one had the slightest doubt but that this fantastical
aurora borealis was the comet itself, a view confirmed by
the fact that the former comet could not be found any-
where among the starry host. The apparition differed,
it is true, from all popularly known cometary forms,
and the radiating beams of the mysterious visitor were,
of all forms, the least expected. But these gaseous
bodies are so remarkable, so capricious, so various, that
everything is possible. Moreover, it was not the first
time that a comet had presented such an aspect. Astron-
omy contained among its records that of an immense
comet observed in 1744, which at that time had been the
subject of much discussion, and whose picturesque delin-
eation, made de visu by the astronomer Chezeaux, at
Lausanne, had given it a wide celebrity. But even if
nothing of this nature had been seen before, the evidence
of one's eyes was indubitable.

Meanwhile, discussions multiplied, and a veritable as-
tronomical tournament was commenced in the scientific
reviews of the entire world the only journals which in-

OMEGA .

spired any confidence amid the epidemic of buying and
selling which had for so long a time possessed humanity.
The main question, now that there was no longer any
doubt that the star was moving straight toward the
earth, was its position from day to day, a question de-
pending upon its velocity. The young computer of the
Paris observatory, chief of the section of comets, sent
every day a note to the official journal of the United
States of Europe.

A very simple mathematical relation exists between
the velocity of every comet and its distance from the sun.
Knowing the former one can at once find the latter. In
fact the velocity of the comet is simply the velocity of
a planet multiplied by the square root of two. Now

32 OMEGA.

the velocity of a planet, whatever its distance, is deter-
mined by Kepler's third law, according to which the
squares of the times of revolution are to each other as
the cubes of the distances. Nothing evidently, can be
more simple. Thus, for example, the magnificent planet,
Jupiter, moves about the sun with a velocity of 13,000
meters per second. A comet at this distance moves, there-
fore, with the above-mentioned velocity, multiplied by the
square root of two, that is to say by the number 1.4142.
This velocity is consequently 18,380 meters per second.

The planet Mars revolves about the sun at the rate
of 24,000 meters per second. At this distance the
comet's velocity is 34,000 meters per second.

The mean velocity of the earth in its orbit is 29,-
460 meters per second, a little less in June, a little
more in December. In the neighborhood of the earth,
therefore, the velocity of the comet is 41,660 meters, in-
dependently of the acceleration which the earth might
occasion.

These facts the laureate of the Institute called to the
attention of the public which, moreover, already pos-
sessed some general notions upon the theory of celes-
tial mechanics.

When the threatening star arrived at a distance from
the sun equal to that of Mars, the popular fear was
no longer a vague apprehension ; it took definite form>
based, as it was, upon the exact knowledge of the

OMEGA .

comet's rate of approach. Thirty-four thousand meters
per second meant 2040 kilometers per minute, or 122,-
400 kilometers per hour !

As the distance of the orbit of Mars from that of the
earth is only 76,000,000 of kilometers, at the rate of
122,400 kilometers an hour, this distance would be cov-
/ ered in 621 hours, or about twenty-six days. But, as
the comet approached the sun, its velocity would in-
crease, since at the distance of the earth its velocity
would be 41,660 meters per second. In virtue of this
increase of speed, the distance between the two orbits
would be traversed by a comet in 558 hours, or in
twenty-three days, six hours.

34 OMEGA.

But the earth at the moment of meeting with the
comet, would not be exactly at that point of its orbit
intersected by a line from the comet to the sun, be-
cause the former was not advancing directly toward the
latter ; the collision, therefore, would not take place for
nearly a week later, namely : at about midnight on Fri-
day, the 1 3th of July. It is unnecessary to add that
under such circinnstances the usual arrangements for
the celebration of the national fete of July i4th had
been forgotten. National fete ! No one thought of it.
Was not that date far more likely to mark the univer-
sal doom of men and things ? As to that, the cele-
bration by the French of the anniversary of that fam-
ous day had lasted with some exceptions, it is true
for more than five centuries : even among the Romans
anniversaries had never been observed for so long a pe-
riod, and it was generally agreed that the izj-th of July
had outlived its usefulness.

It was now Monday, the 8th of July. For five days
the sky had been perfectly clear, and every night the
fan-like comet hovered in the sky depths, its head, or
nucleus, distinctly visible and dotted with luminous
points which might well be solid bodies several kilo-
meters in diameter, and which, according to the calcu-
lations, would be the first to strike the earth, the tail
-being in a direction away from the sun and in the pres-
ent instance behind and obliquely situated with refer-

OMEGA. 35

ence to the direction of motion. The new star blazed
in the constellation of Pisces. According to observa-
tions taken on the preceding evening, July 8th, its ex-
act position was: right ascension, 23!!., iom., 328.; dec-
lination north, 7, 36', 4". The tail lay entirely across
the constellation of Pegasus. The comet rose at Qh.,
49in. and was visible all night long.

During the lull of which we have spoken, a change
in public opinion had occurred. From a series of retro-
spective calculations an astronomer had proved that the
earth had already on several occasions encountered com-
ets, and that each time the only result had been a
harmless shower of shooting stars. But one of his col-
leagues had replied that the present comet could not
in any sense be compared to a swarm of meteors, that
it was gaseous, with a nucleus composed of solid bodies
and he had in this connection recalled the observations
made upon a comet famous in history, that of 1811.

This comet of 1811 justified, in a certain respect, a
real apprehension. Its dimensions were recalled to
mind: its length of 180,000,000 kilometers, that is to
say, a distance greater than that of the earth from the
sun ; and the width of its tail at its extreme point,
24,000,000 kilometers. The diameter of its nucleus
measured 1,800,000 kilometers, forty thousand times that
of the earth, and its nebulous and remarkably regular
elliptical head was a spot brilliant as a star, having

3 6 OMEGA.

itself a diameter of no less than 200,000 kilometers.
The spot appeared to be of great density. It was ob-
served for sixteen months and twenty-two days. But
the most remarkable feature of this comet was the im-
mense development to which it attained without ap-
proaching very close to the sun ; for it did not reach
a point nearer than 150,000,000 kilometers, and thus
remained more than 170,000,000 kilometers from the
earth. As the size of comets increases as they near
the sun, if this one had experienced to a greater de-
gree the solar action, its appearance would certainly
have been still more wonderful, and, doubtless, terrify-
ing to the observer. And as its mass was far from
insignificant, if it had fallen directly into the sun, its
velocity, accelerated to the rate of five or six hundred
thousand meters per second at the moment of collision,
might, by the transformation of mechanical energy into
thermal energy, have suddenly increased the solar radia-
tions to such a degree as to have utterly destroyed in
a few days every trace of vegetable and animal life
upon the earth.

A physicist, indeed, had made this curious remark,
that a comet of the same size as that of 1811, or
greater, might thus bring about the end of the world
without actual contact, by a sort of expulsion of solar
light and heat, analogous to that observed in the case
of temporary stars. The impact would, indeed, give

OMEGA. 37

rise to a quantity of heat six times as great as that
which would be produced by the combustion of a mass
of coal equal to the mass of the comet.

It had been shown that if such a comet in its
flight, instead of falling into the sun, should collide
with our planet, the end of the world would be by
fire. If it collided with Jupiter it would raise the
temperature of that globe to such a point as to restore
to it its lost light, and to make it for a time a sun
again, so that the earth would be lighted by two suns,
Jupiter becoming a sort of minor night-sun, far brighter
than the moon, and shining by its own light of a
ruby-red or garnet color, revolving about the earth in
twelve years. A nocturnal sun ! That is to say, no
more real night for the earth.

The most classical astronomical treatises had been
consulted ; chapters on comets written by Newton,
Halley, Maupertuis, Lalande, Laplace, Arago, Faye,
Newcomb, Holden, Denning, Robert Ball, and their
successors, had been re-read. The opinion of Laplace
had made the deepest impression and his language had
been texttially cited : " The earth's axis and rotary
motion changed ; the oceans abandoning their old-time
beds, to rush toward the new equator ; the majority of
men and animals overwhelmed by this universal deluge,
or destroyed by the violent shock ; entire species an-
nihilated ; every monument of human industry over-

38 OMEGA.

thrown ; such are the disasters which might result from
collision with a comet."

Thus discussion, researches into the past, calculations,
conjectures succeeded each other. But that which made
the deepest impression on every mind was first that,
as proved by observation, the present comet had a
nucleus of considerable density, and second, that car-
bonic-oxide gas was unquestionably the chief chemical
constituent. Fear and terror resumed their sway. Noth-
ing else was thought of, or talked about, but the
comet. Already inventive minds sought some way,
more or less practicable, of evading the danger. Chem-
ists pretended to be able to preserve a part of the
oxygen of the atmosphere. Methods were devised for
the isolation of t'lis gas from the nitrogen and its stor-
age in immense vessels of glass hermetically sealed.
A clever pharmacist asserted that he had condensed
it in pastiles, and in a fortnight expended eight mill-
ions in advertising. Thus commerce made capital out
of everything, even universal death. All hope was not,
however, abandoned. People disputed, trembled, grew
anxious, shuddered, died even but hoped on.

The latest news was to the effect that the comet,
developing, as it approached the thermal and electric
influences of the sun, would have at the moment of
impact a diameter sixty-five times that of the earth, or
828,000 kilometers.

OMEGA.

It was in the midst of this state of general anxiety
that the session of the Institute, whose utterance was
awaited as the last word of an oracle, was opened.

The director of the observatory of Paris was natur-
ally to be the first speaker ; but what seemed to ex-
cite the greatest interest in the public was the opinion
of the president of the academy of medicine on the
probable effects of carbonic-oxide. The president of
the geological society of France was also to make an
address, and the general object of the session was to
pass in review all the possible ways in which onr
earth might come to an end. Evidently, however, the
discussion of its collision with the comet would hold
the first place.

As we have just seen, the threatening star hnng
above every head ; everybody could see it ; it was
growing larger day by day ; it was approaching with
an increasing velocity ; it was known to be at a dis-
tance of only 17,992,000 kilometers, and that this dis-
tance would be passed
over in five days. Every
hour brought this menac-
ing hand, ready to strike,
149,000 kilometers near-
er. In six days anxious
humanity would breathe
freely or not at all.

FRIGHTENED WATCHERS.

A GROUP OF LISTENERS.

CHAPTER III.

NEVER, within the history of man, had the immense
hemicycle, constructed at the end of the twentieth cen-
tury, been invaded by so compact a crowd. It would
have been mechanically impossible for another person
to force an entrance. The amphitheater, the boxes, the
tribunes, the galleries, the aisles, the stairs, the corridors,
the doorways, all, to the very steps of the platform,
were filled with people, sitting or standing. Among
the audience were the president of the United States
of Europe, the director of the French republic, the di-
rectors of the Italian and Iberian republics, the chief
ambassador of India, the ambassadors of the British,
German, Hungarian and Muscovite republics, the king
of the Congo, the president of the committee of ad-

OMEGA.

ministrators, all the ministers, the prefect of the inter-
national exchange, the cardinal-archbishop of Paris, the
director-general of telephones, the president of the coun-
cil of aerial navigation and electric roads, the director
of the international bureau of time, the principal as-
tronomers, chemists, physiologists and physicians of
France, a large number of state officials (formerly called
deputies or senators), many celebrated writers and art-
ists, in a word, a rarely assembled galaxy of the rep-
resentatives of science, politics, commerce, industry, lit-
erature and every sphere of human activity. The plat-
form was occupied by the president, vice-presidents,
permanent secretaries and orators of the day, but they
did not wear, as formerly, the green coat and chapeau
or the old-fashioned sword, they were dressed simply
in civil costume, and for
two centuries and a half
every European decoration
had been suppressed ; those
of central Africa, on the
contrary, were of the most
brilliant description.

Domesticated monkeys,
which for more than half a
century had filled every
place of service impossible
otherwise to provide for

A DOMESTICATED MONKEY.

42 OMEGA.

stood at the doors, in conformity to the regulations,
rather than to verify the cards of admission ; for long
before the hour fixed upon every place had been occupied.

The president opened the session as follows (it is
needless to remind the reader that the language of
the xxxvth century is here translated into that of the
xixth) :

" Ladies and gentlemen : You all know the object
for which we are assembled. Never, certainly, has hu-
manity passed through such a crisis as this. Never,
indeed, has this historic room of the twentieth century
contained such an audience. The great problem of
the end of the world has been for a fortnight the
single object of discussion and study among savants.
The results of their discussions and researches are now
to be announced. Without further preamble I give
-place to the director of the observatory."

The astronomer immediately arose, holding a few
notes in his hand. He had an easy address, an agree-
able voice, and a pleasant countenance. His gestures
were few and his expression pleasing. He had a broad
forehead and a magnificent head of curling, white hair
framed his face. He was a man of learning and of
culture, as well as of science, and his whole person-
ality inspired both sympathy and respect. His tem-
perament was evidently optimistic, even under circum-
stances of great peril. Scarcely had he begun to speak

OMEGA. 43

when the mournful and anxious faces before him became
suddenly calm and reassured.

" Ladies," he began, " I address myself first to you,
begging you not to tremble in this way before a
danger which may well be less terrible than it seems.
I hope presently to convince you, by the arguments
which I shall have the honor to lay before you, that
the comet, whose approach is expected by the entire
race, will not involve the total ruin of the earth.
Doubtless, we may, and should, expect some catastro-
phe, but as for the end of the world, really, every-
thing would lead us to believe that it will not take
place in this manner. Worlds die of old age, not by
accident, and, ladies, you know better than I that the
world is far from being old.

" Gentlemen, I see before me representatives of every
social sphere, from the highest to the most humble.
Before a danger so apparent, threatening the destruc-
tion of all life, it is not surprising that every busi-
ness operation should be absolutely suspended. Never-
theless, as for myself, I confess that if the bourse was
not closed, and if I had never had the misfortune to
be interested in speculation, I should not hesitate to-
day to purchase securities which have fallen so low."

This sentence was finished before a noted Amer-
ican Israelite a prince of finance director of the
journal The Twenty-fifth Century, occupying a seat on

OMEGA .

one of the upper steps of
the amphitheater, forced
his wayy one hardly knows
how, through the rows of
benches, and rolled like a
ball to the corridor leading
to an exit, through which
he disappeared.

After the momentary in-
terruption caused by this
unexpected sequel to a
purely scientific remark,
the orator resumed :

" Our subject," he said,
" may be considered under
three heads : i. Is the col-
lision of the comet with
the earth certain ? If this
question is answered in
the affirmative, we shall

have to examine : 2. The nature of the comet, and, 3,
the possible effects of a collision. I have no need to
remind so intelligent an audience as this that the pro-
phetic words ' End of the world,' so often heard today,
signify solely * End of the earth,' which moment indeed,
of all others, has the most interest for us.

"If we are able to answer the first question in the

THE PRINCE OF FINANCE LEAVING
THE INSTITUTE.

OMEGA. 45

negative, it will be quite superfluous to consider the
other two, which would become of secondary interest.

" Unfortunately, I must admit that the calculations
of the astronomers are in this case, as usual, entirely
correct. Yes, the comet will strike the earth, and,
doubtless, with maximum force, since the impact will
be direct. The velocity of the earth is 29,400 me-
ters per second ; that of the comet is 41,660 meters,
plus the acceleration due to the attraction of our
planet. The initial velocity of contact, therefore, will
be 72,000 meters per second. The collision, is inevit-
able, with all its consequences, if the impact of the
comet is direct ; but it will be slightly oblique. But
do not for this reason, take matters so to heart. In
itself the collision proves nothing. If it were an-
nounced, for example, that a railway train was to en-
counter a swarm of flies, this prediction would not
greatly trouble the traveller. It may well be that
the collision of our earth with this nebulous star will
be of the same nature.

u Permit me now to examine, calmly, the two re-
maining questions.

" First, what is the nature of the comet ? That
everyone knows already ; it is a gas whose principal
constituent is carbonic-oxide. Invisible under ordinary
conditions, at the temperature of stellar space (273
degrees below zero), this gas is in a state of vapor,

46 OMEGA.

even of solid particles. The comet is saturated with
them. I shall not in this matter dispute in the least
the discoveries of science."

This confession deepened anew the painful expres-
sion on the faces of most of the audience, and here a
long sigh was drawn.

" But, gentlemen," resumed the astronomer, " until
one of our eminent colleagues of the section of physi-
ology, or of the academy of medicine, deigns to prove
for us that the density of the comet is sufficient to
admit of its penetration into our atmosphere, I do not
believe that its presence is likely to exert a fatal in-
fluence upon human life. I say is likely, for it is
not possible to affirm this with certainty, although the
probability is very great. One might perhaps wager a
million to one. In any case, only those affected with
weak lungs will be victims. It will be a simple influ-
enza, which may increase three or five-fold the daily
death rate.

" If, however, as the telescope and camera agree in
indicating, the nucleus contains large mineral masses,
probably of a metallic nature, uranolites, measuring
several kilometers in diameter, and weighing some mill-
ions of tons, one cannot but admit that the localities
where these masses will fall, with the velocity referred
to a moment ago, would be utterly destroyed. Let us
observe, however, that three-fourths of the globe is

OMEGA .

"A FEW CITIES IN ASHES CANNOT ARREST THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY."

covered with water. Here again is a contingency, not
so important doubtless as the first, but, nevertheless,
in our favor ; these masses may perhaps fall into the
sea, forming possibly new islands of foreign origin,
bringing in any case elements new to science, and, it
may be, germs of unknown life ; Geodesy would in
this case be interested, and the form and rotary move-
ment of the earth might be modified. Let us note
also that not a few deserts mark the earth's surface.
Danger exists, assuredly, but it is not overwhelming.

" Besides these masses and these gases, perhaps also
the bolides of which we were speaking, coming in
clouds, will kindle conflagrations at various places on
the continents ; dynamite, nitroglycerine, panclastite and
royalite would be playthings in comparison with what
may overtake us, but this does not imply a universal

4 8 OMEGA.

cataclysm ; a few cities in ashes cannot arrest the his-
tory of humanity.

," You see, gentlemen, from this methodical examina-
tion of the three points before us, it follows that the
danger, while it exists, and is even imminent, is not so
great, so overwhelming, so certain, as is asserted. I
will even say more : this curious astronomical event,
which sets so many hearts beating and fills with anx-
iety so many minds, in the eyes of the philosopher
scarcely changes the usual aspect of things. Each one
of us must some day die, and this certainty does not
prevent us from living tranquilly. Why should the
apprehension of a somewhat more speedy death disturb
the serenity of so many of us? Is the thought of our
dying together so disagreeable? This should prove
rather a consolation to our egotism. No, it is the
thought that a stupendous catastrophe is to shorten our
lives by a few days or years. Life is short, and each
clings to the smallest fraction of it ; it would even
seem, from what one hears, that each would prefer to
see the whole world perish, provided he himself sur-
vived, rather than die alone and know the world was
saved. This is pure egoism. But, gentlemen, I am
firm in the belief that this will be only a partial disas-
ter, of the highest scientific importance, but leaving be-
hind it historians to tell its story. There will be a col-
lision, shock, and local ruin. It will be the history of

OMEGA.

an earthquake, of a volcanic eruption, of a cyclone."
Thus spoke the illustrious astronomer. The audience
appeared satisfied, calmed, tranquillized in part, at least.
It was no longer the question of the absolute end of all
things, but of a catastrophe, from which, after all, one
would probably escape. Whispered murmurs of conver-
sation were to be heard ; people confided to each other
their impressions ; merchants and politicians even seemed
to have perfectly understood the arguments advanced,
when, at the invitation of the presiding officer, the presi-
dent of the academy of medicine was seen advancing
slowly toward the tribune.

He was a tall man, spare, slender, erect, with a sallow
face and ascetic appearance, and melancholy countenance
bald-headed, and
wearing closely -
trimmed, gray side-
whiskers. His voice
had something cadaver-
ous about it, and his
whole personality called
to mind the undertaker
rather than the physi-
cian fired with the hope
of curing his patients.
His estimate of affairs
was very different from

HK WAS A TALL, SPARE MAN."

50 OMEGA.

that of the astronomer, as was apparent from the very
first word he uttered.

" Gentlemen," said he, "I shall be as brief as the emi-
nent savant to whom we have just listened, although I
have passed many a night in analyzing, to the minutest
detail, the properties of carbonic-oxide. It is about this
gas that I shall speak to you, since science has demon-
strated that it is the chief constituent of the comet, and
that a collision with the earth is inevitable.

" These properties are terrible ; why not confess it ?
For the most infinitesimal quantity of this gas in the air
we breathe is sufficient to arrest in three minutes the nor-
mal action of the lungs and to destroy life.

" Everybody knows that carbonic-oxide (known in
chemistry as co) is a permanent gas without odor, color
or taste, and nearly insoluble in water. Its density in
comparison with the air is 0.96. It burns in the air with a
blue flame of slight illuminating power, like a funereal fire,
the product of this combustion being carbonic anhydride.

" Its most notable property is its tendency to absorb
oxygen. (The orator dwelt upon these two words with
great emphasis.) In the great iron furnaces, for example,
carbon, in the presence of an insufficient quantity of air,
becomes transformed into carbonic-oxide, and it is sub-
sequently this oxide which reduces the iron to a metallic
state, by depriving it of the oxygen with which it was
combined.

OMEGA. 51

" In the sunlight carbonic-oxide combines with chlorine
and gives rise to an oxychlorine (cocL 2 ) a gas with a dis-
agreeable, suffocating odor.

" The fact which deserves our more serious attention,
is that this gas is of the most poisonous character far
more so than carbonic anhydride. Its effect upon the he-
moglobin is to diminish the respiratory capacity of the
blood, and even in very small doses, by its cumulative
effect, hinders, to a degree altogether out of proportion
to the apparent cause, the oxygenizing properties of the
blood. For example : blood which absorbs from twenty-
three to twenty-four cubic centimeters of oxygen per hun-
dred volumes, absorbs only one-half as much in an atmos-
phere which contains less than one-thousandth part of
carbonic-oxide. The one-ten-thousandth part even has a
deleterious effect, sensibly diminishing the respiratory
action of the blood. The result is not simple asphyxia,
but an almost instantaneous blood-poisoning. Carbonic-
oxide acts directly upon the blood corpuscles, combining
with them and rendering them unfit to sustain life : hema-
tosis, that is, the conversion of venous into arterial blood,
is arrested. Three minutes are sufficient to produce death.
The circulation of the blood ceases. The black venous
blood fills the arteries as well as the veins. The latter,
especially those of the brain, become surcharged, the sub-
stance of the brain becomes punctured, the base of the
tongue, the larynx, the wind-pipe, the bronchial tubes

52 OMEGA.

become red with blood, and soon the entire body pre-
sents the characteristic purple appearance which results
from the suspension of hematosis.

" But, gentlemen, the injurious properties of carbonic-
oxide are not the only ones to be feared ; the mere ten-
dency of this gas to absorb oxygen would bring about
fatal results. To suppress, nay, even only to diminish
oxygen, would suffice for the extinction of the human
species. Everyone here present is familiar with that inci-
dent which, with so many others, marks the epoch of bar-
barism, when men assassinated each other legally in the
name of glory and of patriotism ; it is a simple episode
of one of the English wars in India. Permit me to recall
it to your memory :

" One hundred and forty-six prisoners had been con-
fined in a room whose only outlets were two small win-
dows opening upon a corridor ; the first effect experienced
by these unfortunate captives was a free and persistent
perspiration, followed by insupportable thirst, and soon by
great difficulty in breathing. They sought in various
ways to get more room and air ; they divested themselves
of their clothes ; they beat the air with their hats, and
finally resorted to kneeling and rising together at inter-
vals of a few seconds ; but each time some of those whose
strength failed them fell and were trampled under the
feet of their comrades. Before midnight, that is, during the
fourth hour of their confinement, all who were still living,

OMEGA.

THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA.

and who had not succeeded in obtaining purer air at the
windows, had fallen into a lethargic stupor, or a frightful
delirium. When, a few hours later, the prison door was
opened, only twenty-three men came out alive ; they were

54 OMEGA.

in the most pitiable state imaginable ; every face wearing
the impress of the death from which they had barely
escaped.

" I might add a thousand other examples, but it would
be useless, for doubt upon this point is impossible. I
therefore affirm, gentlemen, that, on the one hand, the
absorption by the carbonic-oxide of a portion of the
atmospheric oxygen, or, on the other, the powerfully
toxic properties of this gas upon the vital elements of the
blood, alike seem to me to give to the meeting of our
globe with the immense mass of the comet in the heart
of which we shall be plunged for several hours I affirm,
I repeat, that this meeting involves consequences abso-
lutely fatal. For my part, I see no chance of escape.

" I have not spoken of the transformation of mechanical
motion into heat, or of the mechanical and chemical con-
sequences of the collision. I leave this aspect of the ques-
tion to the permanent secretary of the academy of sciences
and to the learned president of the astronomical society of
France, who have made it the subject of important inves-
tigations. As for me, I repeat, terrestrial life is in danger,
and I see not one only, but two, three and four mortal
perils confronting it. Escape will be a miracle, and for
centuries no one has believed in miracles."

This speech, uttered with the tone of conviction, in a
clear, calm and solemn voice, again plunged the entire
audience into a state of mind from which the preceding

OMEGA:

THE LAST DAYS OF THE WORLD

CAM1LLE FLAMMARION

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

JEAN PAUL LAURENS, SAUNIF.R, MEAULLE, VOGEL, ROCHEGROSSE, GERADIN,
CHOVIN, Totiss.MNT, GUILLONNET, SCHWABE, AND OTHERS

NEW YORK:
THE COSMOPOLITAN PUBLISHING COMPANY

BY
J. B. WALKER

THE COSMOPOLITAN PUBLISHING COMPANY

Jiy Juan Paul Laurens.

OMEGA:

THE I, AST DAYS OF THE WORLD.

CHAPTER I.

HP HE magnificent" marble bridge which unites the Rue
de Rennes with the Rue de Louvre, and which, lined
with the statues of celebrated scientists and philosophers,
emphasizes the monumental avenue leading to the new
portico of the Institute, was absolutely black with people.
A heaving crowd surged, rather than walked, along the

OMEGA.

address had, happily, released them. The certainty of the
approaching disaster was painted upon every face ; some
had become yellow, almost green ; others suddenly became
scarlet and seemed on the verge of apoplexy. Some few
among the audience appeared to have retained their self-
possession, through scepticism or a philosophic effort to
make the best of it. A vast murmur filled the room ;
everyone whispered his opinions to his neighbor, opinions
generally more optimistic than sincere, for no one likes to
appear afraid.

The president of the astronomical society of France rose
in his turn and advanced toward the tribune. Instantly
every murmur was hushed. Below we give the main
points of his speech, including the opening remarks and
the peroration :

" I v adies and gentlemen : After the statements which
we have just heard, no doubt can remain in any mind as
to the certainty of the collision of the comet with the
earth, and the dangers attending this event. We must,
therefore, expect on Saturday "

" On Friday," interrupted a voice from the desk of the
Institute.

u On Saturday, I repeat," continued the orator, without
noticing the interruption, " an extraordinary event, one
absolutely unique in the history of the world.

" I say Saturday, although the papers announce that
the collision will take place on Friday, because it cannot

56 OMEGA.

occur before July i4th. I passed the entire night with
my learned colleague in comparing; the observations re-
ceived, and we discovered an error in their transmission."

This statement produced a sensation of relief among- the
audience ; it was like a slender ray of light in the middle
of a somber night. A single day of respite is of enormous
importance to one condemned to death. Already chimer-
ical projects formed in even- mind ; the catastrophe was
put off ; it was a kind of reprieve. It was not remem-
bered that this diversion was of a purely cosmographic
nature, relating to the date and not to the fact of the
collision. But the least things play an important role in
public opinion. So it was not to be on Friday !

" Here," he said, going to the black-board, " are the
elements as finally computed from all the observations."
The speaker traced upon the black-board the following
figures :

Perihelion passage August n, at oh., 42111., 44s.

Longitude of perihelion, 52, 43', 25" '.

Perihelion distance, 0.7607.

Inclination, 103, 18', 35' '.

Longitude of ascending node, 112, 54', 40".

" The comet," he resumed, " will cross the ecliptic in
the direction of the descending node 28 minutes, 23 sec-
onds after midnight of July i4th just as the earth reaches'
the point of crossing. The attraction of the earth will
advance the moment of contact by only thirty seconds.

OMEGA. 57

" The event, doubtless, will be altogether exceptional,
but I do not believe either, that it will be of so tragical a
nature as has been depicted, or that it can really bring
about blood poison or universal asphyxia. It will rather
present the appearance of a brilliant display of celestial
fire-works, for the arrival in the atmosphere of these solid
and gaseous bodies cannot occur without the conversion
into heat of the mechanical motion thus destroyed ; a
magnificent illumination of the sky will doubtless be the
first phenomenon.

" The heat evolved must necessarily be very great.
Every shooting star, however small, entering the upper
limits of our atmosphere with a cometary velocity, imme-
diately becomes so hot that it takes fire and is consumed.
You know, gentlemen, that the earth's atmosphere ex-
tends far into space about our planet ; not without limit,
as certain hypotheses declare, since the earth turns on its
axis and moves about the sun : the mathematical limit is
that height at which the centrifugal force engendered by
the diurnal rotary motion becomes equal to the weight ;
this height is 6.64 times the equatorial radius of the earth,
the latter being 6,378,310 meters. The maximum height
of the atmosphere, therefore, is 35,973 kilometers.

" I do not here wish to enter into a mathematical dis-
cussion. But the audience before me is too well informed
not to know the mechanical equivalent of heat. Every
body whose motion is arrested produces a quantity of heat

$S OMEGA.

expressed in caloric units by inv s divided by 8338, in
which ;;/ is the mass of the body in kilograms and v its
velocity in meters per second. For example, a body
weighing 8338 kilograms, moving with a velocity of one
meter per second, would produce, if suddenly stopped,
exactly One heat unit ; that is to say, the quantity of heat
necessary to raise one kilogram of water one degree in
temperature.

" If the velocity of the body be 500 meters per second,
it would produce 250,000 times as much heat, or enough
to raise a quantity of water of equal mass from o to 30.

" If the velocity were 5000 meters per second, the heat
developed would be 5,000,000 times as great.

" Now, you know, gentlemen, that the velocity with
which a comet may reach the earth is 72,000 meters
per second. At this figure the temperature becomes five
milliards of degrees.

" This, indeed, is the maximum and, I should add, a
number altogether inconceivable ; but, gentlemen, let us
take the minimum, if it be your pleasure, and let us admit
that the impact is not direct, but more or less oblique, and
that the mean velocity is not greater than 30,000 meters
per second. Even- kilogram of a bolide would develop in
this case 107,946 heat units before its velocity would be
destroyed by the resistance of the air ; in other words,: it
would generate sufficient heat to raise the temperature of
1079 kilograms of water from o to 100 that is, from

OMEGA. 59

the freezing to the boiling point. A uranolite weighing
2000 kilograms would thus, before reaching the earth,
develop enough heat to raise the temperature of a column
of air, whose cross-section is. thirty square meters and
whose height is equal to that of our atmosphere, 3000, or,
to raise from o to 30 a column whose cross-section is
3000 square meters.

" These calculations, for the introduction of which I
crave your pardon, are necessary to show that the imme-
diate consequence of the collision will be the production
of an enormous quantity of heat, and, therefore, a consider-
able rise in the temperature of the air. This is exactly
what takes place on a small scale in the case of a single
meteorite, which becomes melted and covered superficially
by a thin layer of vitrified matter, resembling varnish.
But its fall is so rapid that there is not sufficient time for
it to become heated to the center ; if broken, its interior is
found to be absolutely cold. It is the surrounding air
which has been heated.

" One of the most curious results of the analysis which I
have just had the honor to lay before you, is that the solid
masses which, it is believed, have been seen ;by the tele-
scope in the nucleus of the comet, will meet with such re-
sistance in traversing our atmosphere that, except in rare
instances, they will not reach the earth entire, but in
small fragments. There will be a compression of the air
in front of the bolide, a vacuum behind it, a superficial

OMEGA,

heating and incandescence of the moving body, a roar
produced by the air rushing into the vacuum, the roll of
thunder, explosions, the fall of the denser metallic por-
tions and the evaporation, of the remainder. A bolide
of sulphur, of phosphorus, of tin or of zinc, would be
consumed and dissipated long before reaching the lower
strata of our atmosphere. As for the shooting stars, if,

as seems probable, there is a veritable cloud of them, they
will only produce the effect of a vast inverted display of
fire-works.

" If, therefore, there is any reason for alarm, it is not, in
my opinion, because we are to apprehend the penetration
of the gaseous mass of carbonic-oxide into our atmosphere,
but a rise in temperature, which cannot fail to result from

OMEGA. 6i

the transformation of mechanical motion into heat. If
this be so, safety may be perhaps attained by taking refuge
on the side of the globe opposed to that which is to expe-
rience the direct shock of the comet, for the air is a very
bad conductor of heat."

The permanent secretary of the academy rose in his turn.
A worthy successor to the Fontenelles and Aragos of the
past, he was not only a man of profound knowledge, but
also an elegant writer and a persuasive orator, rising some-
times even to the highest flights of eloquence.

" To the theory which we have just heard," he said, " I
have nothing to add ; I can only apply it to the case of
some comet already known. Let us suppose, for example,
that a comet of the dimensions of that of 1811 should col-
lide squarely with the earth in its path about the sun.
The terrestrial ball would penetrate the nebula of the
comet without experiencing any very sensible resistance.
Admitting that this resistance is very slight, and that the
density of the comet's nucleus may be neglected, the pas-
sage of the earth through the head of a comet of 1,800,000
kilometers in diameter, would require at least 25,000 sec-
onds that is, 417 minutes, or six hours, fifty-seven min-
utes in round numbers, seven hours the velocity being
1 20 times greater than that of a cannon-ball ; and the
earth continuing to rotate upon its axis, the collision
would commence about six o'clock in the morning.

" Such a plunge into the cometary ocean, however ran-

OMEGA .

OMEGA, 63

fied it might be, could not take place without producing
as a first and immediate consequence, by reason of the
thermodynamic principles which have been just called to
your attention, a rise in temperature such that probably
our entire atmosphere would take fire ! It seems to me
that in this particular case the danger would be very
serious.

" But it would be a fine spectacle for the inhabitants of
Mars, and a finer one still for those of Venus. Yes, that
would indeed be a magnificent spectacle, analogous to
those we have ourselves seen in the heavens, but far more
splendid to our near neighbors.

" The oxygen of the air would prove insufficient to
maintain the combustion, but there is another gas which
physicists do not often think of, for the simple reason that
they have never found it in their analyses hydrogen.
What has become of all the hydrogen freed from the soil
these millions of years which have elapsed since pre-
historic times ? The density of this gas being one-six-
teenth that of the air, it must have ascended, forming a
highly rarified hydrogen envelope above our atmosphere.
In virtue of the law of diffusion of gases, a large part of
this hydrogen would become mixed with the atmosphere,
but the upper air layers must contain a considerable portion
of it. There, doubtless, at an elevation of more than one
hundred kilometers, the shooting stars take fire, and the
aurora borealis is lighted. Notice here that the oxygen

64 OMEGA.

of the air would furnish the carbon of the comet ample
material during collision to feed the celestial fire.

" Thus the destruction of the world will result from the
combustion of the atmosphere. For about seven hours
probably a little longer, as the resistance to the comet can-
not be neglected there will be a continuous transformation
of motion into a heat. The hydrogen and the oxygen, com-
bining with the carbon of the comet, will take fire. The
temperature of the air will be raised several hundred de-
grees ; woods, gardens, plants, forests, habitations, edifices,
cities, villages, will all be rapidly consumed ; the sea, the
lakes and the rivers will begin to boil ; men and animals,
enveloped in the hot breath of the comet, will die asphyx-
iated before they are burned, their gasping lungs inhaling
only flame. Every corpse will be almost immediately car-
bonized, reduced to ashes, and in this vast celestial fur-
nace only the heart-rending voice of the trumpet of the
indestructible angel of the Apocalypse will be heard, pro-
claiming from the sky, like a funeral knell, the antique
death-song : ' Solvet sseculum in favilla.' This is what
may happen if a comet like that of 1811 collides with the
earth."

At these words the cardinal-archbishop rose from his
seat and begged to be heard. The astronomer, perceiving
him, bowed with a courtly grace and seemed to await the
reply of his eminence.

"I do not desire," said the latter, " to interrupt the

OMEGA. 65

honorable speaker, but if science announces that the drama
of the end of the world is to be ushered in by the destruc-
tion of the heavens by fire, I cannot refrain from saying
that this has always been the universal belief of the
church. ' The heavens,' says St. Peter, ' shall pass away
with a great noise, and the elements shall meet with fer-
vent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burned up.' St. Paul affirms also its renovation
by fire, and we repeat daily at mass his words : ' Bum
qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos et sseculum per
ignem.' "

" Science," replied the astronomer, u has more than once
been in accord with the prophecies of our ancestors. Fire
will first devour that portion of the globe struck by the
huge mass of the comet, consuming it before the inhabi-
tants of the other hemisphere realize the extent of the
catastrophe ; but the air is a bad conductor of heat, and
the latter will not be immediately propagated to the oppo-
site hemisphere.

" If our latitude were to receive the first shock of the
comet, reaching us, we will suppose, in summer, the tropic
of Cancer, Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Greece and Egypt
would be found in the front of the celestial onset, while
Australia, New Caledonia and Oceanica would be the most
favored. But the rush of air into this European furnace
would be such that a storm more violent than the most
frightful hurricane and more formidable even than the air-

66 OMEGA.

current which moves continuously on the equator of Jupi-
ter, with a velocity of 400,000 kilometers per hour, would
rage from the Antipodes towards Europe, destroying
everything in its path. The earth, turning upon its axis,
would bring successively into the line of collision, the
regions lying to the west of the meridian first blasted.
An hour after Austria and Germany it would be the turn
of France, then of the Atlantic ocean, then of North
America, which would enter somewhat obliquely the
dangerous area about five or six hours after France
that is, towards the end of the collision.

" Notwithstanding the unheard-of velocities of the comet
and the earth, the pressure cannot be enormous, in view
of the extremely rarified state of the matter traversed by
the earth ; but this matter, containing so much carbon, is
combustible, and at perihelion these bodies are not infre-
quently seen to shine by their own as well as by reflected
light : they become incandescent. What, then, must be
the result of a collision w r ith the earth ? The combustion
of meteorites and bolides, the superficial fusion of the
uranolites which reach the earth's surface on fire, all lead
us to believe that the moment of greatest heat will be that
of contact, which evidently will not prevent the massive
elements forming the nucleus of the comet from crushing
the localities where they fall, and perhaps even breaking
up an entire continent.

" The terrestrial globe being thus entirely surrounded

OMEGA.

DEATH BY SUFFOCATION.

68 OMEGA.

by the cometary mass for nearly seven hours, and revolv-
ing in this incandescent gas, the air rushing violently
toward the center of disturbance, the sea boiling and fill-
ing the atmosphere with new vapors, hot showers falling
from the sky-cataracts, the storm raging everywhere with
electric deflagrations and lightnings, the rolling of thunder
heard above the scream of the tempest, the blessed light of
former days having been succeeded by the mournful and
sickly gleamings of the glowing atmosphere, the whole
earth will speedily resound with the funeral knell of
universal doom, although the fate of the dwellers in the
Antipodes will probably differ from that of the rest of
mankind. Instead of being immediately consumed, they
will be stifled by the vapors, by the excess of nitrogen
the oxygen having been rapidly abstracted or poisoned
by carbonic-oxide ; the fire will afterwards reduce their
corpses to ashes, while the inhabitants of Europe and
Africa will have been burned alive.

" The well-known tendency of carbonic-oxide to absorb
oxygen will doubtless prove a sentence of instant death
for those farthest from the initial point of the catas-
trophe.

u I have taken as an example the comet of 1811 ; but I
hasten to add that the present one appears to be far less
dense."

" Is it absolutely sure ? " cried a well-known voice (that
of an illustrious member of the chemical society) from one

OMEGA. 69

of the boxes. "Is it absolutely sure the comet is com-
posed chiefly of carbonic-oxide ? Have not the nitrogen
lines also been detected in its spectrum ? If it should
prove to be protoxide of nitrogen, the consequence of its
mixture with our atmosphere might be anaesthesia. Kvery
one would be put to sleep perhaps forever, if the suspen-
sion of the vital functions were to last but a little longer
than is the case in our surgical operations. It would be
the same if the comet was composed of chloroform or
ether. That would be an end calm indeed.

" It would be less so if the comet should absorb the
nitrogen instead of the oxygen, for this partial or total
absorption of nitrogen would bring about, in a few hours,
for all the inhabitants of the earth for men and women,
for the young and the aged a change of temperament,
involving at first nothing disagreeable a charming so-
briety, then gayety, followed by universal joy, a feverish
exultation, finally delirium and madness, terminating, in
all probability, by the sudden death of every human being
in the apotheosis of a wild saturnalia, an unheard-of frenzy
of the senses. Would that death be a sad one ? "

" The discussion remains open," replied the secretary.
" What I have said of the possible consequences of a col-
lision applies to the direct impact of a comet like that of
1811 ; the one that threatens us is less colossal, and its
impact will not be direct, but oblique. In common with
the astronomers who have preceded me on this floor, I

70 OMEGA,

am inclined to believe, in this instance, in a mighty dis-
play of fire-works."

While the orator was still speaking, a young girl belong-
ing to the central bureau of telephones, entered by a small
door, conducted by a domesticated monkey, and, darting
like a flash to the seat occupied by the president, put into
his hands a large, square, international envelope. It was
immediately opened, and proved to be a despatch from the
observatory of Gaurisankar. It contained only the follow-
ing words :

u The inhabitants of Mars are sending a photophonic
message. Will be deciphered in a few hours."

" Gentlemen," said the president, " I see several in the
audience consulting their watches, and I agree with them
in thinking that it will be physically impossible for us to
finish in a single session this important discussion, in
which eminent representatives of geology, natural history
and geonomy are yet to take part. Moreover, the despatch
just read will doubtless introduce new problems. It is
nearly six o'clock. I propose that we adjourn to nine
o'clock this evening. It is probable that we shall have
received, by that time, from Asia the translation of the
message from Mars. I will also beg the director of the
observatory to maintain constant communication, by tele-
phone, with Gaurisankar. In case the message is not
deciphered by nine o'clock, the president of the geological
society of France will open the meeting with a statement

OMEGA. ji

of the investigations which he has just finished, on the
natural end of the world. Everybody, at this moment, is
absorbingly interested in whatever relates to the question
of the end of our world, whether this is dependent upon
the mysterious portent now suspended above us, or upon
other causes, of whatsoever nature, subject to investiga-
tion."

Hfl

OMEGA.

CHAPTER IV.

THE multitude stationed without the doors of the In-
stitute had made way for those coming out, every one
being eager to learn the particulars of the session.
Already the general result had in some way become
known, for immediately after the speech of the direc-
tor of the Paris observatory the rumor got abroad that
the collision with the comet would not entail conse-
quences so serious as had been anticipated. Indeed,
large posters had just been placarded throughout Paris,
announcing the reopening of the Chicago stock exchange.
This was an encouraging and unlocked for indication of
the resumption of business and the revival of hope.

This is what had taken place. The financial magnate,
whose abrupt exit will be remembered by the reader
of these pages, after rolling like a ball from the top
to the bottom row of the hemicycle, had rushed in
an sero-cab to his office on the boulevard St. Cloud,
where he had telegraphed to his partner in Chicago
that new computations had just been given out by the
Institute of France, that the gravity of the situation
had been exaggerated, and that the resumption of bus-
iness was imminent ; he urged, therefore, the opening
of the central American exchange at any cost, and the
purchase of every security offered, whatever its nature.
When it is five o'clock at Paris it is eleven in the

74 OMEGA.

morning at Chicago. The financier received the de-
spatch from his cousin while at breakfast. He found
no difficulty in arranging for the reopening of the
exchange and invested several millions in securities.
The news of the resumption of business in Chicago
had been at once made public, and although it was
too late to repeat the same game in Paris, it was pos-
sible to prepare new plans for the morrow. The public
had innocently believed in a spontaneous and genuine
revival of business in America, and this fact, together
with the satisfactory impression made by the session of
the Institute, was sufficient to rekindle the fires of hope.

No less interest, however, was manifested in the even-
ing session than in that of the afternoon, and but for
the exertions of an extra detachment of the French
guard it would have been impossible for those enjoying
Special privileges to gain admission. Night had come,
and with it the flaming comet, larger, more brilliant, and
more threatening than ever ; and if, perhaps, one-half
the assembled multitude appeared somewhat tranquil-
lized, the remaining half was still anxious and fearful.

The audience was substantially the same, every one
being eager to know at first hand the issue of this
general public discussion of the fate of the planet,
conducted by accredited and eminent scientists, whether
its destruction was to be the result of an extraordinary
accident such as now threatened it, or of the natural

OMEGA. 75

process of decay. But it was noticed that the cardinal
archbishop of Paris was absent, for he had been sum-
moned suddenly to Rome by the Pope to attend an
oecumenical council, and had left that very evening
by the Paris-Rome-Palermo-Tunis tube.

" Gentlemen," said the president, u the translation of
the despatch received at the observatory of Gaurisankar
from Mars has not arrived yet, but we shall open the
session at once, in order to hear the important com-
munication previously announced, which the president
of the geological society, and the permanent secretary
of the academy of meteorology, have to make to us."

The former of these gentlemen was already at the
desk. His remarks, stenographically reproduced by a
young geologist of the new school, were as follows :

" The immense crowd gathered within these walls,
the emotion I see depicted upon every face, the im-
patience with which you await the discussions yet to
take place, all, gentlemen, would lead me to refrain
from laying before you the opinion which I have
formed from my own study of the problem which now
excites the interest of the entire world, and to yield
the platform to those gifted with an imagination or
an audacity greater than mine. For, in my judgment,
the end of the world is not at hand, and humanity
will have to wait for it several million years yes,
gentlemen, I said millions, not thousands.

OMEGA .

" You see that I am at this moment perfectly calm, and
that, too, without laying any claim to the sang froid
of Archimedes, who was slain by a Roman soldier at
the siege of Syracuse while calmly tracing geometric fig-
ures upon the sand. Archimedes knew the danger and
forgot it ; I do not believe in any danger whatever.

u You will not then be surprised if I quietly sub-
mit to you the theory of a natural end of the world,
by the gradual levelling of the continents and their slow
submergence beneath the invading waters ; but I shall
perhaps do better to postpone for a week this explanation,
as I do not for an instant doubt that we may all, or
nearly all, reassemble here to confer together upon the
great epochs of the natural history of the world."

The orator paused for a moment. The president had risen :
" My dear and honorable colleague," he said, " we are all here

to listen to you.
ic of the last few
allayed, and it is
the night of July
like its predecess-
we are more than
in all which has
this great problem
to no one with
than to the illus-
the classic Treat-

ARCHIMEDES.

Happily, the pan-
days is partially
to be hoped that
13-14 will pass
ors. Nevertheless,
ever interested
any bearing upon
and we shall listen
greater pleasure
trious author of
ise on Geology."

OMEGA. 77

" In that case, gentlemen," resumed the president of
the geological society of France, " I shall explain to
you what, in my judgment, will be the natural end
of the world, if, as is probable, nothing disturbs the
present course of events ; for accidents are rare in the
cosmical order.

"Nature does not proceed by sudden leaps, and geol-
ogists do not believe in such revolutions or cata-
clysms ; for they have learned that in the natural
world everything is subject to a slow process of evo-
lution. The geological agents now at work are per-
manent ones.

" The destruction of the globe by some great catas-
trophe is a dramatic conception ; far more so, certainly,
than that of the action of the forces now in operation,
though they threaten our planet with a destruction
equally certain. Does not the stability of our continent
seem permanent? Hxcept through the intervention of
some new agency, how is it possible to doubt the durabil-
ity of this earth which has supported so many generations
before our own, and whose monuments, of the greatest
antiquity, prove that if they have come down to us in a
state of ruin, it is not because the soil has refused to
support them, but because they have suffered from the rav-
ages of time and especially from the hand of man ? The
oldest historical traditions show us rivers flowing in the
same beds as today, mountains rising to the same height ; and

78 OMEGA.

as for the few river-mouths which have become obstructed,
the few land-slides which have occurred here and there,
their importance is so slight relatively to the enormous ex-
tent of the continents, that it seems gratuitous indeed to
seek here the omens of a final catastrophe.

" Such might be the reasoning of one who casts a super-
ficial and indifferent glance upon the external world. But
the conclusions of one accustomed to scrutinize closely the
apparently insignificant changes taking place about him
would be quite different. At every step, however little
skilled in observation, he will discover the traces of a per-
petual conflict between the external powers of nature and
all which rises above the inflexible level of the ocean, in
whose depths reign silence and repose. Here, the sea
beats furiously against the shore, which recedes slowly
from century to century. Elsewhere, mountain masses
have fallen, engulfing in a few moments entire villages
and desolating smiling valleys. Or, the tropical rains, as-
sailing the volcanic cones, have furrowed them with deep
ravines and undermined their walls, so that at last nothing
but ruins of these giants remain.

" More silent, but not less efficacious, has been the
action of the great rivers, as the Ganges and the Missis-
sippi, whose waters are so heavily laden with solid parti-
cles in suspension. Each of these small particles, which
trouble the limpidity of their liquid carrier, is a fragment
torn from the shores washed by these rivers. Slowly but

OMEGA.

i# \

THE SKA AT WORK.

OMEGA .

STREAM EROSION.

OMEGA. 8r

surely their currents bear to the great reservoir of the sea
every atom lost to the soil, and the bars which form their
deltas are as nothing compared with what the sea receives
and hides away in its abysses. How can any reflecting
person, observing this action, and knowing that it has
been going on for many centuries, escape the conclusion
that the rivers, like the ocean, are indeed preparing the
final ruin of the habitable world ?

"Geology confirms this conclusion in every particular.
It shows us that the surface of the soil is being constantly
altered over entire continents by variations of temperature,
by alterations of drought and humidity, of freezing and
thawing, as also by the incessant action of worms and of
plants. Hence, a continuous process of dissolution, leading
even to the disintegration of the most compact rocks, re-
ducing them to fragments small enough to yield at last
to the attraction of gravity, especially when this is aided
by running water. Thus they travel, first down the slopes
and along the torrent beds, where their angles are worn
away and they become little by little transformed into
gravel, sand and ooze; then in the rivers which are still
able, especially at flood-times, to carry away this broken
up material, and to bear it nearer and nearer to their
outlets.

"It is easy to predict what must necessarily be the final
result of this action. Gravity, always acting, will not be
satisfied until every particle subject to its law has attained

OMEGA .

AT FLOOD-TIME.

the most stable position conceivable. Now, such will be the
case only when matter is in the lowest position possible.
Every surface, must therefore disappear, except the surface
of the ocean, which is the goal of every agency of motion ;
and the material borne away from the crumbling conti-
nents must in the end be spread over the bottom of the
sea. In brief, the final outcome will be the complete lev-
elling of the land, or, more exactly, the disappearance of
every prominence from the surface of the earth.

OMEGA. 83

" In the first place, we readily see that near the river
mouths the final form of the dry land will be that of nearly
horizontal plains. The effect of the erosion produced by
running water will be the formation on the water-sheds of
a series of sharp ridges, succeeded by almost absolutely
horizontal plains, between which no final difference in
height greater than fifty meters can exist.

" But in no case can these sharp ridges, which, on this
hypothesis, will separate the basins, continue long ; for
gravity and the action of the wind, filtration and change
of temperature, will soon obliterate them. It is thus legit-
imate to conclude that the end of this erosion of the conti-
nents will be their reduction to an absolute level, a level
differing but little from that at the river outlets."

The coadjutor of the archbishop of Paris, who occupied
a seat in the tribune reserved for distinguished function-
aries, rose, and, as the orator ceased speaking, added :
" Thus will be fulfilled, to the letter, the words of holy
writ: 'For the mountains shall depart and the hills be
removed.' "

" If, then," resumed the geologist, " nothing occurs to
modify the reciprocal action of land and water, we cannot
escape the conclusion that every continental elevation is
inevitably destined to disappear.

" How much time will this require ?

" The dry land, if spread out in a layer of uniform
thickness, would constitute a plateau of about 700 meters

84 OMEGA.

altitude above the sea-level. Admitting that its total area
is 145,000,000 square kilometers, it follows that its volume
is about 101,500,000, or, in round numbers, 100,000,000
cubic kilometers. Such is the large, yet definite mass, with
which the external agencies of destruction must contend.
" Taken together, the rivers of the world may be
considered as emptying, every year, into the sea 23,000
cubic kilometers of water (in other words, 23,000 milliards
of cubic meters). This would give a volume of solid
matter carried yearly to the sea, equal to 10.43 cubic kilo-
meters, if we accept the established ratio of thirty-eight
parts of suspended material in 100,000 parts of water.
The ratio of this amount to the total volume of the dry
land is one to 9,730,000. If the dry land were a level
plateau of 700 meters altitude, it would lose, by fluid

THB RIVERS CEASE TO FLOW.

OMEGA. 85

erosion alone, a slice of about seven one-hundredths of a
millimeter in thickness yearly, or one millimeter every
fourteen years say seven millimeters per century.

" Here we have a definite figure, expressing the actual
yearly continental erosion, showing that, if only this
erosion were to operate, the entire mass of unsubmerged
land would disappear in less than 10,000,000 years.

" But rain and rivers are not the only agencies ; there
are other factors which contribute to the gradual destruc-
tion of the dry land :

" First, there is the erosion of the sea. It is impossible
to select a better example of this than the Britannic isles ;
for they are exposed, by their situation, to the onslaught
of the Atlantic, whose billows, driven by the prevailing
southwest wind, meet with no obstacle to their progress.
Now, the average recession of the English coast is cer-
tainly less than three meters per century. L,et us apply
this rate to the sea-coasts of the world, and see what will
happen.

" We may proceed in two ways : First, we may estimate
the loss in volume for the entire coast-line of the world,
on the basis of three centimeters per year. To do this,
we should have to know the length of the shore-line and
the mean height of the coast. The former is about
200,000 kilometers. As to the present average height of
the coasts above the sea, 100 meters would certainly be a
liberal estimate. Hence, a recession of three centimeters

86 OMEGA.

corresponds to an annual loss of three cubic meters per
running meter, or, for the 200,000 kilometers of coast-line,
600,000,000 cubic meters, which is only six-tenths of a
cubic kilometer. In other words, the erosion due to the
sea would only amount to one-seventeenth that of the
rivers.

" It may perhaps be objected, that, as the altitude
actually increases from the coast-line toward the interior,
the same rate of recession would, in time, involve a
greater loss in volume. Is this objection well founded ?
No ; for the tendency of the rain and water-courses being,
as we have said, to lower the surface-level, this action
would keep pace with that of the sea.

"Again, the area of the dry land being 145,000,000
square kilometers, a circle of equal area would have a
radius of 6800 kilometers. But the circumference of this
circle would be only 40,000 kilometers ; that is to say, the
sea could exercise upon the circle but one-fifth the erosive
action which it actually does upon the indented outline of
our shores. We may, therefore, admit that the erosive
action of the sea upon the dry land is Jive times greater
than it would be upon an equivalent circular area. Cer-
tainly this estimate is a maximum ; for it is logical to
suppose that, when the narrow peninsulas have been eaten
away by the sea, the ratio of the perimeter to the surface
will decrease more and more that is, the action of the
sea will be less effective. In any event, since, at the rate

OMEGA. 87

of three centimeters per year, a radius of 6800 kilometers
would disappear in 226,600,000 years, one-fifth of this
interval, or about 45,000,000 years, would represent the
minimum time necessary for the destruction of the land
by the sea ; this would correspond to an intensity of
action scarcely more than one-fifth that of the rivers and
rain.

" Taken together, these mechanical causes would, there-
fore, involve every year a loss in volume of twelve cubic
kilometers, which, for a total of 100,000,000, would bring
about the complete submergence of the dry land in a little
more than 8,000,000 years.

" But we are far from having exhausted our analysis of the
phenomena in question. Water is not only a mechanical
agent ; it is also a powerful dissolvent, far more powerful
than we might suppose, because of the large amount of
carbonic acid which it absorbs either from the atmos-
phere or from the decomposed organic matter of the soil.
All subterranean waters become charged with substances

THE NILE.

88 OMEGA.

which it has thus chemically abstracted from the minerals
of the rocks through which it percolates.

" River water contains, per cubic kilometer, about 182
tons of matter in solution. The rivers of the world bring
yearly to the sea, nearly five cubic kilometers of such
matter. The annual loss to the dry land, therefore, from
these various causes, is seventeen instead of twelve cubic
kilometers ; so that the total of 100,000,000 would disap-
pear, not in eight, but in a little less than six million
years.

" This figure must be still further modified. For we
must not forget that the sediment thus brought to the sea
and displacing a certain amount of water, will cause a rise
of the sea-level, accelerating by just so much the levelling
process due to the wearing away of the continents.

"It is easy to estimate the effect of this new factor.
Indeed, for a given thickness lost by the plateau heretofore
assumed, the sea-level must rise by an amount correspond-
ing to the volume of the submarine deposit, which must
exactly equal that of the sediment brought down. Calcu-
lation shows that, in round numbers, the loss in volume
will be twenty-four cubic kilometers.

" Having accounted for an annual loss of twenty-four
cubic kilometers, are we now in a position to conclude
what time will be necessary for the complete disappear-
ance of the dry land, always supposing the indefinite
continuance of present conditions?

OMEGA. 8 9

" Certainly, gentlemen ; for, after examining the objec-
tion which might be made apropos of volcanic eruptions,
we find that the latter aid rather than retard the disinte-
grating process.

"We believe, therefore, that we may fearlessly accept
the above estimate of twenty-four cubic kilometers, as a
basis of calculation ; and as this figure is contained
4,166,666 times in 100,000,000, which represents the
volume of the continents, we are authorized to infer that
under the sole action of forces now in operation, provided
no other movements of the soil occur, the dry land will
totally disappear within a period of about 4,000,000 years.

" But this disappearance, while interesting to a geologist
or a thinker, is not an event which need cause the present
generation any anxiety. Neither our children nor our
grandchildren will be in a position to detect in any sensi-
ble degree its progress.

" If I may be permitted, therefore, to close these
remarks with a somewhat fanciful suggestion, I will add
that it would be assuredly the acme of foresight to build
today a new ark, in which to escape the consequences of
this coming universal deluge."

Such was the learnedly developed thesis of the president
of the geological society of France. His calm and
moderate statement of the secular action of natural forces,
opening up a future of 4,000,000 years of life, had allayed
the apprehension excited by the comet. The audience

OMEGA.

OMEGA. p/

had become wonderfully tranquillized. No sooner had the
orator left the platform and received the congratulations
of his colleagues than an animated conversation began on
every side. A sort of peace took possession of every
mind. People talked of the end of the world as they
would of the fall of a ministry, or the coming of the
swallows dispassionately and disinterestedly. A fatality
put off 40,000 centuries does not really affect us at all.

But the permanent secretary of the academy of meteo-
rology had just ascended the tribune, and every one gave
him at once the strictest attention :

" Ladies and gentlemen : I am about to lay before you
a theory diametrically opposed to that of my eminent
colleague of the Institute, yet based upon facts no less
definite and a process of reasoning no less rigorous.

" Yes, gentlemen, diametrically opposed "

The orator, gifted with an excellent voice, had perceived
the disappointment settling upon every face.

" Oh," he said, " opposed, not as regards the time which
nature allots to the existence of humanity, but as to the
manner in which the world will come to an end ; for I
also believe in a future of several million years.

" Only, instead of seeing the subsidence and complete
submergence of the land beneath the invading waters, I
foresee, on the contrary, death by drouth, and the gradual
diminution of the present water supply of the earth.
Some day there will be no more ocean, no more clouds, no

9 2 OMEGA.

more rain, no more springs, no more moisture, and vegeta-
ble as well as animal life will perish, not by drowning, but
through lack of water.

" On the earth's surface, indeed, the water of the sea, of
the rivers, of the clouds, and of the springs, is decreasing.
Without going far in search of examples, I would remind
you, gentlemen, that in former times, at the beginning of
the quaternary period, the site now occupied by Paris, with
its 9,000,000 of inhabitants, from Mount Saint-Germain to
Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, was almost entirely occupied by
water ; only the hill of Passy at Montmartre and Pere-
Lachaise, and the plateau of Montrouge at the Pantheon
and Villejuif emerged above this immense liquid sheet.
The altitudes of these plateaus have not increased, there
have been no upheavals ; it is the water which has
diminished in volume.

"It is so in every country of the world, and the cause is
easy to assign. A certain quantity of water, very small, it
is true, in proportion to the whole, but not negligable, per-
colates through the soil, either below the sea bottoms by
crevices, fissures and openings due to submarine eruptions,
or on the dry land ; for not all the rain water falls upon
impermeable soil. In general, that which is not evapo-
rated, returns to the sea by springs, rivulets, streams and
rivers; but for this there must be a bed of clay, over
which it may follow the slopes. Wherever this imper-
meable soil is lacking, it continues its descent by infiltra-

OMEGA. 93

tion and saturates the rocks below. This is the water
encountered in quarries.

" This water is lost to general circulation. It enters
into chemical combination and constitutes the hydrates.
If it penetrates far enough, it attains a temperature suffi-
cient for its transformation into steam, and such is gener-
ally the origin of volcanoes and earthquakes. But, within
the soil, as in the open air, a sensible proportion of the
water in circulation becomes changed into hydrates, and
even into oxides ; there is nothing like humidity for the
rapid formation of rust. Thus recombined, the elements
of water, hydrogen and oxygen, disappear as water. Ther-
mal waters also constitute another interior system of circu-
lation ; they are derived from the surface, but they do not
return there, nor to the sea. The surface water of the
earth, either by entering into new combinations, or by
penetrating the lower rock-strata, is diminishing, and it
will diminish more and more as the earth's heat is dissi-
pated. The heat- wells which have been dug within a
hundred years, in the neighborhood of the principal cities
of the world, and which afford the heat necessary for
domestic purposes, will become exhausted as the internal
temperature diminishes. The day will come when the
earth will be cold to its center, and that day will be coinci-
dent with an almost total disappearance of water.

" For that matter, gentlemen, this is likely to be the fate
of several bodies in our solar system. Our neighbor the

94 OMEGA.

NO MORE WATER.

moon, whose volume and mass are far inferior to those of
the earth, has grown cold more rapidly, and has traversed
more quickly the phases of its astral life ; its ancient
ocean-beds, on which we, today, recognize the indubitable
traces of water action, are entirely dry ; there is no evi-
dence of any kind of evaporation ; no cloud has been dis-
covered, and the spectroscope reveals no indication of the
presence of the vapor of water. On the other hand, the
planet Mars, also smaller than the earth, has beyond a
doubt reached a more advanced phase of development, and
is known not to possess a single body of water worthy
of the name of ocean, but only inland seas of medium
extent and slight depth, united with each other by canals.
That there is less water on Mars than on the earth is a fact
proved by observation ; clouds are far less numerous, the
atmosphere is much dryer, evaporation and condensation

OMEGA. 95

take place with greater rapidity, and the polar snows
show variations, depending upon the season, much more ex-
tensive than those which take place upon the earth. Again,
the planet Venus, younger than the earth, is surrounded
by an immense atmosphere, constantly filled with clouds.
As for the large planet Jupiter, we can only make out, as
it were, an immense accumulation of vapors. Thus, the
four worlds of which we know the most, confirm, each in
its own way, the theory of a secular decrease in the
amount of the earth's water.

" I am very happy to say in this connection that the
theory of a general levelling process, maintained by my
learned colleague, is confirmed by the present condition of
the planet Mars. That eminent geologist told us a few
moments ago, that, owing to the continuous action of riv-
ers, plains almost horizontal would constitute the final
form of the earth's surface. That is what has already
happened in the case of Mars. The beaches near the sea
are so flat that they are easily and frequently inundated, as
every one knows. From season to season hundreds of
thousands of square kilometers are alternately exposed or
covered by a thin layer of water. This is notably the case
on the western shores of the Kaiser sea. On the moon this
levelling process has not taken place. There was not time
enough for it ; before its consummation, the air, the wind
and the water had vanished.

"It is then certain that, while the earth is destined to

96 OMEGA.

undergo a process of levelling, as my eminent colleague
has so clearly explained, it will at the same time gradually
lose the water which it now possesses. To all appearances,
the latter process is now going on more rapidly than the
former. As the earth loses its internal heat and becomes
cold, crevasses will undoubtedly form, as in the case of
the moon. The complete extinction of terrestrial heat will
result in contractions, in the formation of hollow spaces be-
low the surface, and the contents of the ocean will flow
into these hollows, without being changed into vapor,
and will be either absorbed or combined with the metal-
lic rocks, in the form of ferric hydrates. The amount of
water will thus go on diminishing indefinitely, and finally
totally disappear. Plants, deprived of their essential
constituent, will become transformed, but must at last
perish.

" The animal species will also become modified, but
there will always be herbivora and carnivora, and the
extinction of the former will involve, inevitably, that of
the latter ; and at last, the human race itself, notwithstand-
ing its power of adaption, will die of hunger and of thirst,
on the bosom of a dried-up world.

" I conclude, therefore, gentlemen, that the end of the
world will not be brought about by a new deluge, but by
the loss of its water. Without water terrestrial life is
impossible ; water constitutes the chief constituent of
every living thing. It is present in the human body in

OMEGA. 97

the enormous proportion of seventy per cent. Without
it, neither plants nor animals can exist. Either as a
liquid, or in a state of vapor, it is the condition of life.
Its suppression would be the death-warrant of human-
it}', and this death-warrant nature will serve upon us a
dozen million years hence. I will add that this will
take place before the completion of the erosion explained
by the president of the geological society of France ;
for he, himself, was careful to note that the period of
4,000,000 years was dependent upon the hypothesis that
the causes now in operation continued to act as they do
today ; and, furthermore, he, himself, admits that the man-
ifestations of internal energy cannot immediately cease.
Upheavals, at various points, will occur for a long period,
and the growth of the land area from such causes as the
formation of deltas, and volcanic and coral islands, will
still go on for some time. The period which he indicated,
therefore, represents only the minimum."

Such was the address of the permanent secretary of the
academy of meteorology. The audience had listened with
the deepest attention to both speakers, and it was evident,
from its bearing, that it was fully reassured concerning
the fate of the world ; it seemed even to have altogether
forgotten the existence of the comet.

" The president of the physical society of France has
the floor."

At this invitation, a young woman, elegantly dressed

9 8

OMEGA

OMEGA. 99

in the most perfect taste, ascended the tribune.

" My two learned colleagues," she began, without fur-
ther preamble, " are both right ; for, on the one hand, it is
impossible to deny that meteorological agents, with the
assistance of gravity, are working insensibly to level the
world, whose crust is ever thickening and solidifying ; and,
on the other hand, the amount of water on the surface of
our planet is decreasing from century to century. These
two facts may be considered as scientifically established.
But, gentlemen, it does not seem to me that the end of the
world will be due to either the submergence of the conti-
nents, or to an insufficient supply of water for plant and
animal life."

This new declaration, this announcement of a third
hypothesis, produced in the audience an astonishment bor-
dering upon stupor.

" Nor do I believe," the graceful orator hastened to add,
" that the final catastrophe can be set down to the comet,
for I agree with my two eminent predecessors, that worlds
do not die by accident, but of old age.

" Yes, doubtless, gentlemen," she continued, " the water
will grow less, and, perhaps, in the end totally disappear ;
yet, it is not this lack of water which in itself will bring
about the end of things, but its climatic consequences.
The decrease in the amount of aqueous vapor in the
atmosphere will lead to a general lowering of the tem-
perature, and humanity will perish with cold.

ioo OMEGA.

" I need inform no one here that the atmosphere we
breathe is composed of seventy-nine per cent, of nitro-
gen and twenty per cent, of oxygen, and that of the re-
maining one per cent, about one-half is aqueous vapor
and three ten-thousandths is carbonic acid, the remain-
der being ozone, or electrified oxygen, ammonia, hydro-
gen and a few other gases, in exceedingly small quanti-
ties. Nitrogen and oxygen, then, form ninety-nine per
cent, of the atmosphere, and the vapor of water one-half
the remainder.

" But, gentlemen, from the point of view of vege-
table and animal life, this half of one per cent, of
aqueous vapor is of supreme importance, and so far as
temperature and climate are concerned, I do not hesitate
to assert that it is more essential than all the rest of the
atmosphere.

" The heat waves, coming from the sun to the earth,
which warm the soil and are thence returned and scattered
through the atmosphere into space, in their passage
through the air meet with the oxygen and nitrogen atoms
and with the molecules of aqueous vapor. These mole-
cules are so thinly scattered (for they occupy but the
hundredth part of the space occupied by the others), that
one might infer that the retention of any heat whatever is
due rather to the nitrogen and oxygen than to the
aqueous vapor. Indeed, if we consider the atoms alone,
we find two hundred oxygen and nitrogen atoms for

OMEGA. 101

one of aqueous vapor. Well, this one atom has eigh-
ty times more energy, more effective power to retain
radiant heat, than the two hundred others ; consequently,
a molecule of the vapor of water is 16,000 times more
effective than a molecule of dry air, in absorbing and in
radiating heat for these two properties are reciprocally
proportional.

" To diminish by any great amount the number of these
invisible molecules of the vapor of water, is to immedi-
ately render the earth uninhabitable, notwithstanding its
oxygen ; even the equatorial and tropical regions will sud-
denly lose their heat and will be condemned to the cold of
mountain summits covered with perpetual snow and frost :
in place of luxurious plants, of flowers and fruits, of birds
and nests, of the life which swarms in the sea and upon
the land ; instead of murmuring brooks and limpid rivers,
of lakes and seas, we shall be surrounded only by ice in
the midst of a vast desert -and when I say we, gentlemen,
you understand we shall not linger long as witnesses, for
the very blood would freeze in our veins and arteries, and
every human heart would soon cease to beat. Such would
be the consequences of the suppression of this half hun-
dredth part of aqueous vapor which, disseminated through
the atmosphere, beneficently protects and preserves all
terrestrial life as in a hot-house.

" The principles of thermodynamics prove that the
temperature of space is 273 below zero. And this, gentle-

t02

OMEGA

PRIMARY VEGETATION AT THE NORTH POLE.

men, is the more than glacial cold in which our planet
will sleep when it shall have lost this airy garment in
whose sheltering warmth it is today enwrapped. Such is
the fate with which the gradual loss of the earth's water
threatens the world, and this death by cold will be

OMEGA. 103

inevitably ours, if our earthly sojourn is long enough.
" This end is all the more certain, because not only the
aqueous vapor is diminishing, but also the oxygen and
nitrogen, in brief, the entire atmosphere. L,ittle by little
the oxygen becomes fixed in the various oxides which are
constantly forming on the earth's surface ; this is the case
also with the nitrogen, which disappears in the soil and
vegetation, never wholly regaining a gaseous state ; and
the atmosphere penetrates by its weight into the land and
sea, descending into subterranean depths. Little by little,
from century to century, it grows less. Once, as for
example in the early primary period, it was of vast extent ;
the earth was almost wholly covered by water, only the
first granite upheavel broke the surface of the universal
ocean, and the atmosphere was saturated with a quantity of
aqueous vapor immeasurably greater than that it now holds.
This is the explanation of the high temperature of those
bygone days, when the tropical plants of our time, the
tree ferns, such as the calamites, the equisetacese, the
sigillaria and the lepidodendrons flourished as luxuriously
at the poles as at the equator. Today, both the atmos-
phere and aqueous vapor have considerably diminished in
amount. In the future they are destined to disappear.
Jupiter, which is still in its primary period, possesses an
immense atmosphere full of vapors. The moon does not
appear to have any at all, so that the temperature is al-
ways below the freezing point, even in the sunlight,

104 O M E G A .

and the atmosphere of Mars is sensibly rarer than ours.

"As to the time which must elapse before this reign of
cold caused by the diminution of the aqueous atmosphere
which surrounds the globe, I also would adopt the period
of 10,000,000 years, as estimated by the speaker who pre-
ceded me. Such, ladies, are the stages of world-life which
nature seems to have marked out, at least for the planetary
system to which we belong. I conclude, therefore, that
the fate of the earth will be the same as that of the moon,
and that when it loses the airy garment which now guar-
antees it against the loss of the heat received from the sun,
it will perish with cold."

At this point the chancellor of the Columbian academy,
who had come that very day from Bogota by an elcetric
air-ship to participate in the discussion, requested permis-
sion to speak. It was known that he had founded on the
very equator itself, at an enormous altitude, an observatory
overlooking the entire planet, from which one might see
both the celestial poles at the same time, and which he
had named in honor of a French astronomer who had
devoted his whole life to making known his favorite
science and to establishing its great philosophical import-
ance. He was received with marked sympathy and
attention.

" Gentlemen," he said, on reaching the desk, " in these
two sessions we have had an admirable resume of the curi-
ous theories which modern science is in a position to offer us,

OMEGA. TOS

upon the various ways in which our world may come to an
end. The burning of the atmosphere, or suffocation caused
by the shock of the rapidly approaching comet ; the
submergence of the continents in the far future beneath
the sea ; the drying up of the earth as a result of the
gradual loss of its water ; and finally, the freezing of our
unhappy planet, grown old as the decaying and frozen
moon. Here, if I mistake not, are five distinct possible
ends.

PERISHING FROM COLD.

to6 OMEGA.

" The director of the observatory has announced that he
does not believe in the first two, and that in his opinion a
collison with the comet will have only insignificant results.
I agree with him in every respect, and I now wish to add,
after listening attentively to the learned addresses of my
distinguished colleagues, that I do not believe in the other
three either.

" L,adies," continued the Columbian astronomer, " you
know as well as we do that nothing is eternal. In the
bosom of nature all is change. The buds of the spring
burst into flowers, the flowers in their turn become fruit,
the generations succeed each other, and life accomplishes
its mission. So the world which we inhabit will have its
end as it has had its beginning, but neither the comet, nor
water, nor the lack of water are to cause its death agony.
To my mind the whole question hangs upon a single word
in the closing sentence of the very remarkable address
which has just been made by our gracious colleague, the
president of the physical society.

" The sun ! Yes, here is the key to the whole problem.

" Terrestrial life depends upon its rays. I say depends
upon them life is a form of solar energy. It is the sun
which maintains water in a liquid state, and the atmos-
phere in a gaseous one ; without it all would be solid and
lifeless ; it is the sun which draws water from the sea, the
lakes, the rivers, the moist soil ; which forms the clouds
and sets the air in motion ; which produces rain and con-

OMEGA. to?

trols the fruitful circulation of the water ; thanks to the
solar light and heat, the plants assimilate the carbon con-
tained in the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, and in sepa-
rating- the oxygen from the carbon and appropriating the
latter the plant performs a great work ; to this conversion
of solar into vital energy, as well as to the shade of the
thick-leaved trees, is due the freshness of the forests ; the
wood which blazes on our hearthstones does but render up
to us its store of solar heat, and when we consume gas or
coal today, we are only setting free the rays imprisoned
millions of years ago in the forests of the primary age.
Electricity itself is but a form of energy whose original
source is the sun. It is, then, the sun which murmurs in
the brook, which whispers in the wind, which moans in
the tempest, which blossoms in the rose, which trills
in the throat of the nightingale, which gleams in the
lightning, which thunders in the storm, which sings or
wails in the vast symphony of nature.

" Thus the solar heat is changed into air or water
currents, into the expansive force of gases and vapors, into
electricity, into woods, flowers, fruits and muscular energy.
So long as this brilliant star supplies us with sufficient
heat the continuance of the world and of life is assured.

" The probable cause of the heat of the sun is the con-
densation of the nebula in which this central body of our
system had its origin. This conversion of mechanical
energy must have produced 28,000,000 degrees centigrade.

jo8 OMEGA.

You know gentlemen, that a kilogram of coal, falling from
an infinite distance to the sun, would produce, by its
impact, six thousand times more heat than by its combus-
tion. At the present rate of radiation, this supply of heat
accounts for the emission of thermal energy for a period
of 22,000,000 years, and it is probable that the sun has
been burning far longer, for there is nothing to prove
that the elements of the nebula were absolutely cold ; on
the contrary they themselves were originally a source of
heat. The temperature of this great day-star does not seem
to have fallen any ; for its condensation is still going on,
and it may make good the loss by radiation. Nevertheless,
everything has an end. If at some future stage of con-
densation the sun's density should equal that of the earth,
this condensation would yield a fresh amount of heat suf-
ficient to maintain for 17,000,000 years the same temperature
which now sustains terrestrial life, and this period may be
prolonged if we admit a diminution in the rate of radiation,
a fall of meteorites, or a further condensation resulting in
a density greater than that of the earth. But, however
far we put off the end, it must come at last. The suns
which are extinguished in the heavens, offer so many
examples of the fate reserved for our own luminary ; and
in certain years such tokens of death are numerous.

" But in that long period of seventeen or twenty million
years, or more, who can say what the marvellous power of
adaptation, which physiology and paleontology have re-

OMEGA. 709

vealed in every variety of animal and vegetable life, may
not do for humanity, leading it, step by step, to a state of
physical and intellectual perfection as far above ours, as
ours is above that of the ignuanodon, the stegosaurus and
the compsognathus ? Who can say that our fossil remains
will not appear to our successors as monstrous as those of
the dinosaurus ? Perhaps the stability of temperature of
that future time may make it seem doubtful whether any
really intelligent race could have existed in an epoch sub-
jected, as ours is, to such erratic variations of temperature,
to the capricious changes of weather which characterize
our seasons. And, who knows if before that time some
immense cataclysm, some general change may not bury
the past in new geological strata and inaugurate new per-
iods, quinquennial, sexsennial, differing totally from the
preceding ones ?

" One thing is certain, that the sun will finally lose its
heat ; it is condensing and contracting, and its fluidity is
decreasing. The time will come when the circulation,
which now supplies the photosphere, and makes the cen-
tral mass a reservoir of radiant energy, will be obstructed
and will slacken. The radiation of heat and light will
then diminish, and vegetable and animal life will be more
and more restricted to the earth's equatorial regions.
When this circulation shall have ceased, the brilliant pho-
tosphere will be replaced by a dark opaque crust which
will prevent all luminous radiation. The sun will become

7io OMEGA.

a dark red ball, then a black one, and night will be
perpetual. The moon, which shines only by reflection,
will no longer illumine the lonely nights. Our planet
will receive no light but that of the stars. The solar
heat having vanished, the atmosphere will remain un-
disturbed, and an absolute calm, unbroken by any breath
of air, will reign.

" If the oceans still exist they will be frozen ones, no
evaporation will form clouds, no rain will fall, no stream
will flow. Perhaps, as has been observed in the case of
stars on the eve of extinction, some last flare of the expir-
ing torch, some accidental development of heat, due to the
falling in of the sun's crust, will give us back for a while
the old-time sun, but this will only be the precursor of the
end ; and the earth, a dark ball, a frozen tomb, will con-
tinue to revolve about the black sun', travelling through
an endless night and hurrying away with all the solar sys-
tem into the abyss of space. // is to the extinction of the
sun that the earth will owe its death, twenty, perhaps forty
million years hence"

The speaker ceased, and w r as about to leave the platform,
when the director of the academy of fine arts begged to
be heard :

" Gentlemen," he said, from his chair, " if I have under-
stood rightly, the end of the world will in any case result
from cold, and only several million years hence. If, then,
a painter should endeavor to represent the last day, he

O ME G A . in

A WORLD OF ICE.

ought to shroud the earth in ice, and cover it with
skeletons."

" Not exactly," replied the Columbian chancellor. " It
is not cold which produces glaciers, it is heat.

" If the sun did not evaporate the sea water there would
be no clouds, and but for the sun there would be no wind.
For the formation of glaciers a sun is necessary, to vapor-
ize the water and to transport it in clouds and then to
condense it. Every kilogram of vapor formed represents
a quantity of solar heat sufficient to raise five kilograms
of cast-iron to its fusing point (no ). By lessening the
intensity of the sun's action we exhaust the glacier
supply.

" So that it is not the snow, nor the glaciers which will
cover the earth, but the frozen remnant of the sea. For a
long time previously streams and rivers will have ceased
to exist and every atmospheric current will have disap-

ii2 OMEGA.

peared, unless indeed, before giving up the ghost, the sun
shall have passed through one of those spasms to which
we referred a moment ago, shall have released the ice from
sleep and have produced new clouds and aerial currents,
re-awakened the springs, the brooks and the rivers, and
after this momentary but deceitful awakening, shall have
fallen back again into lethargy. That day will have no
morrow."

Another voice, that of a celebrated electrician, was heard
from the center of the hemicycle.

" All these theories of death by cold," he observed, u are
plausible. But the end of the world by fire ? This has
been referred to only in connection with the comet. It
may happen otherwise.

" Setting aside a possible sinking of the continents into
the central fire, brought about by an earthquake on a large
scale, or some widespread dislocation of the earth's crust,
it seems to me that, without any collision, a superior will
might arrest our planet midway in its course and transform
its motion into heat."

"A will?" interrupted another voice. "But positive
science does not admit the possibility of miracles in
nature."

" Nor I, either," replied the electrician. "When I say
'will,' I mean an ideal, invisible force. Let me explain.

" The earth is flying through space with a velocity of
106,000 kilometers per hour, or 29,460 meters per second.

OMEGA. 113

If some star, active or extinct, should emerge from space,
so as to form with the sun a sort of electro-dynamic couple
with our planet on its axis, acting upon it like a brake
if, in a word, for any reason, the earth should be suddenly
arrested in its orbit, its mechanical energy would be
changed into molecular motion, and its temperature would
be suddenly raised to such a degree as to reduce it entirely
to a gaseous state."

" Gentlemen," said the director of the Mont Blanc obser-
vatory, from his chair, " the earth might perish by fire in
still another manner. We have lately seen in the sky a
temporary star which, in a few weeks, passed from the six-
teenth to the fourth magnitude. This distant sun had
suddenly become 50,000 times hotter and more luminous.
If such a fate should overtake our sun, nothing living
would be left upon our planet. It is probable, from the
study of the spectrum of the light emitted by this burn-
ing star, that the cause of this sudden conflagration was
the entrance of this sun and its system into some kind of
nebula. Our own sun is travelling with a frightful veloc-
ity in the direction of the constellation of Hercules, and
may very well some day encounter an obstacle of this
nature."

" To resume," continued the director of the Paris obser-
vatory, " after all we have just now heard, we see that our
planet will be at a loss to choose among so many modes
of death. I have as little fear now as before of any danger

H4 OMEGA.

from the present comet. But it must be confessed that,
solely from the point of view of the astronomer, this poor,
wandering earth is exposed to more than one peril. The
child born into this world, and destined to reach the age
of maturity, may be compared to a person stationed at the
entrance to a narrow street, one of those picturesque
streets of the sixteenth century, lined with houses at whose
every window is a marksman armed with a good weapon
of the latest model. This person must traverse the entire
length of the street, without being stricken down by the
weapons levelled upon him at close range. Every disease
which lies in wait and threatens us, is on hand : dentition,
convulsion, croup, meningitis, measles, smallpox, typhoid
fever, pneumonia, enteritis, brain fever, heart disease, con-
sumption, diabetes, apoplexy, cholera, influenza, etc., etc.,
for we omit many, and our hearers will have no difficulty
in supplementing this ofthand enumeration. Will our
unhappy traveller reach the end of the street safe and
sound ? If he does, it will only be to die, just the same.

"Thus our planet pursues its way along its heavenly
path, with a speed of more than 100,000 kilometers per
hour, and, at the same time, the sun hurries it on, with all
the planets, toward the constellation of Hercules. Reca-
pitulating what has just been said, and allowing for what
may have been omitted : it may meet a comet ten or
twenty times larger than itself, composed of deleterious
gases which would render the atmosphere irrespirable ; it

OMEGA. 7/5

may encounter a swarm of uranolites, which would have
upon it the effect of a charge of shot upon a meadow lark
it may meet in its path an invisible sun, much larger than
itself, whose shock would reduce it to vapor ; it may
encounter a sun which would consume it in the twinkling
of an eye, as a furnace would consume an apple thrown
into it ; it may be caught in a system of electric forces,
which would act like a brake upon its eleven motions, and
which would either melt it, or set it afire, like a platinum
wire in a strong current ; it may lose the oxygen which
supports life ; it may be blown up like the crust over a
crater ; it may collapse in some great earthquake ; its dry

LIKE A CHARGE OF SHOT UPON A MEADOW LARK.'

n6 OMEGA.

land may disappear, in a second deluge, more universal
than the first ; it may, on the contrary, lose all its water,
an element essential to its organic life ; under the attrac-
tion of some passing body, it may be detached from the
sun and carried away into the cold of stellar space ; it may
part, not only with the last vestige of its internal heat,
which long since has ceased to have any influence upon its
surface, but also with the protecting envelope which main-
tains the temperature necessary to life ; one of these days,
when the sun has grown dark and cold, it may be neither
lighted, nor warmed, nor fertilized ; on the other hand, it
may be suddenly scorched by an outburst of heat, analo-
gous to what has been observed in temporary stars ; not to
speak of many other sources of accidents and mortal peril,
whose easy enumeration we leave to the geologists paleon-
tologists, meteorologists, physicists, chemists, biologists,
physicians, botanists, and even to the veterinary surgeons,
inasmuch as the arrival of an army of invisible microbes,
if they be but deadly enough, or a well-established epi-
demic, would suffice to destroy the human race and the
principal animal and vegetable species, without working
the least harm to the planet itself, from a strictly astronom-
ical point of view."

Just as the speaker was uttering these last words, a voice,
which seemed to come from a distance, fell, as it were,
from the ceiling overhead. But a few words of explana-
tion may here perhaps be desirable.

OMEGA. i if

As we have said, the observatories established on the
higher mountains of the globe were connected by tele-
phone, with the observatory of Paris, and the sender of the
message could be heard at a distance from the receiver,
without being obliged to apply any apparatus directly to
the ear. The reader doubtless recollects that, at the close
of the preceding session, a phonogram from Mt. Gaurisan-
kar stated that a photophonic message, which would be at
once deciphered, had been received from the inhabitants
of Mars. As the translation of this cipher had not arrived
at the opening of the evening session, the bureau of com-
munications had connected the Institute with the observa-
tory by suspending a telephonoscope from the dome of* the
amphitheater.

The voice from above said :

" The astronomers of the equatorial city of .Mars warn
the inhabitants of the earth that the comet is moving
directly toward the earth with a velocity nearly double
that of the orbital velocity of Mars. Mechanical motion
to be transformed into heat, and heat into electrical energy.
Terrible magnetic storms. Move away from Italy."

The voice ceased amid general silence and consterna-
tion. There were, however, a few sceptics left, one of
whom, editor of La Libre Critique, raising his monocle to
his right eye, had risen from the reporters desk and had
exclaimed in a penetrating voice :

" I am afraid that the venerable doctors of the Institute

ti8

OMEGA.

are the victims of a huge joke. No one can ever persuade
me that the inhabitants of Mars admitting that there are
any and they have really sent us a warning know Italy
by name. I doubt very much if one of them ever heard
of the Commentaries of Caesar or the History of the
Popes, especially as "

The orator, who was launching into an interesting dith-
yrambus, was at this point suddenly squelched by the
turning off of the electric lights. With the exception of
the illuminated square in the ceiling, the room was plunged
in darkness and the voice added these six words : " This
is the despatch from Mars ; " and thereupon the following
symbols appeared on the plate of the telephonoscope :

As this picture could only be seen by holding the head
in a very fatiguing position, the president touched a bell
and an assistant appeared, who by means of a projector and

OMEGA, ng

mirror transferred these hieroglyphics to a screen on the
wall behind the desk, so that every one could readily see
and analyze them at their leisure. Their interpretation
was easy ; nothing indeed could be more simple. The
figure representing the comet needed no explanation. The
arrow indicates the motion of the cornet towards a heav-
enly body, which as seen from Mars presents phases, and
sparkles like a star ; this means the earth, naturally so
delineated by the Martians, for their eyes, developed in a
medium less luminous than ours, are somewhat more sensi-
tive and distinguish the phases of the Earth, and this the
more readily because their atmosphere is rarer and more
transparent. (For us the phases of Venus are just on the
limit of visibility.) The double globe represents Mars
looking at the Kaiser sea, the most characteristic feature
of Martian geography, and indicates a velocity for the
comet double the orbital velocity, or a little less, for the
line does not quite reach the edge. The flames indicate
the transformation of motion into heat ; the aurora boreal is
and the lightning which follow, the transformation into
electric and magnetic force. Finally, we recognize the
boot of Italy, visible from Mars, and the black spot marks
the locality threatened, according to their calculation, by
one of the most dangerous fragments of the head of the
comet; while the four arrows radiating in the direction of
the four cardinal points of the compass seem to counsel
removal from the point menaced.

120 OMEGA.

The photophonic message from the Martians was
much longer and far more complicated. The astronomers
on Mt. Gaurisankar had previously received several such,
and had discovered that they were sent from a very im-
portant, intellectual and scientific center situated in the
equatorial zone not far from Meridian bay. The last
message, whose general meaning is given above, was the
most important. The remainder of it had not been trans-
mitted, as it was obscure and it was not certain that its
exact meaning had been made out.

The president rang his bell for order. He was about to
sum up what had been said, before adjourning the meeting.

" Gentlemen," he began, " although it is after midnight,
it will be of interest, before we separate, to. summarize
what has been told us in these two solemn sessions.

" The last despatch from Gaurisankar may well impress
you. It seems clear that the inhabitants of Mars are
farther advanced in science than ourselves, and this is not
surprising, for they are a far older race and have had
centuries innumerable in which to achieve this progress.
Moreover, they may be much more highly organized than
we are, they may possess better eyes, instruments of
greater perfection, and intellectual faculties of a higher
order. We observe, too, that their calculations, while in
accord with ours as to the collision, are more precise, for
they designate the very point which is to receive the
greatest shock. The advice to flee from Italy should

OMEGA. 121

therefore be followed, and I shall at once telephone the
Pope, who at this -very moment is assembling the prelates
of entire Christendom.

" So the comet will collide with the earth, and no one
can yet foresee the consequences. But in all probability
the disturbance will be local and the world will not be
destroyed. The carbonic-oxide is not likely to penetrate
the respirable portions of the atmosphere, but there will be
an enormous development of heat.

"As to the veritable end of the world, of all the
hypotheses which today permit us to forecast that event
the most probable is the last that explained to us by the
learned chancellor of the Columbian academy : the life of
the planet depends upon the sun ; so long as the sun
shines humanity is safe, unless indeed the diminution of
the atmosphere and aqueous vapor should usher in before
that time the reign of cold. In the former case we have
yet before us twenty million years of life ; in the latter
only ten.

"Let us then await the night of July 13-14 without
despair. I advise those who can to pass these fete days in
Chicago, or better still in San Francisco, Honolulu or
Noumea. The trans-Atlantic electric air-ships are so
numerous and well managed that millions of travellers
may make the journey before Saturday night."

THE LAST JUDGMENT.

(From the ceiling of the Sistiue Chapel.)

CHAPTER V.

WHILE the above scientific discussions were taking place
at Paris, meetings of a similar character were being held
at London, Chicago, St. Petersburg, Yokohama, Melbourne,
New York, and in all the principal cities of the world, in
which every effort was made to throw light upon the great

OMEGA. 123

problem which so universally preoccupied the attention of
humanity. At Oxford a theological council of the Re-
formed church was convened, in 'which religious traditions
and interpretations were discussed at great length. To re-
cite, or even to summarize here the proceedings of all
these congresses would be an endless task, but we cannot
omit reference to that of the Vatican as the most impor-
tant from a religious point of view, just as that of the In-
stitute of Paris^ was from a scientific one.

The council had been divided into a certain number of
sections or committees, and the then often discussed ques-
tion of the end of the world had been referred to one
of these committees. Our duty here is to reproduce as
accurately as possible the physiognomy of the main
session, devoted to the discussion of this problem.

The patriarch of Jerusalem, a man of great piety and
profound faith, was the first to speak in Latin. u Vener-
able fathers," he began, " I cannot do better than to open
before you the Holy Gospel. Permit me to quote lit-
erally." He then read the words of the evangelists*
describing the last days of the earth, and went on :

u These words are taken verbatim from the Gospels, and
you know that on this point the evangelists are in perfect
accord.

" You also know, most reverend fathers, that the last
great day is pictured in still more striking language in the

St. Matthew, xxiv. and xvi.; St. Mark, xiii.; St. Luke, xvii. and xxi.

OMEGA.

THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM ADDRESSING THE COUNCIL.

OMEGA. 125

Apocalypse of St. John. But every word of the Scriptures
is known to you, and, in the presence of so learned an
audience, it seems to me superfluous, if not out of place,
to make further citations from what is upon every lip."

Such was the beginning of the address of the patriarch
of Jerusalem. His remarks were divided under three
heads : First, the teachings of Christ ; second, the tradi-
tions of the Church ; third, the dogma of the resurrection
of the body, and of the last judgment. Taking first the
form of an historical statement, the address soon became a
sort of sermon, of vast range ; and when the orator, pass-
ing from St. Paul to Clement of Alexandria, Tertulian and
Origen, reached the council of Nice and the dogma of
universal resurrection, he was carried away by his subject
in such a flight of eloquence as to move the heart of every
prelate before him. Several, who had renounced the
apostolic faith of the earlier centuries, felt themselves
again under its spell. It must be said that the surround-
ings lent themselves marvellously to the occasion. The
assembly took place in the Sistine chapel. The immense
and imposing painting of Michael Angelo, like a new
apocalyptic heaven, was before every eye. The awful
mingling of bodies, arms and legs, so forcibly and
strangely foreshortened ; Christ, the judge of the world ;
the damned borne struggling away by hideous devils ; the
dead issuing from their tombs ; the skeletons returning to
life and reclothing themselves with flesh ; the frightful

126

OMEGA.

terror of humanity trembling in the presence of the wrath
of God all seemed to give a vividness, a reality, to the
magnificent periods of the patriarch's oratory, and at times,
in certain effects of light, one might almost hear the ad-
vancing trumpet sounding from heaven the call of judg-
ment, and see between earth and sky the moving hosts
of the resurrection.

Scarcely had the patriarch of Jerusalem finished his
speech, when an independent bishop, one of the most
ardent dissenters of the council, the learned Mayerstross,

rushed to the tribune, and
began to insist that noth-
ing in the Gospel, or the
traditions of the Church,
should be taken literally.
"The letter kills," he
cried, " the spirit vivifies !
Everything is subject to the
law of progress and change.
The world moves. En-
lightened Christians cannot
any longer admit the resur-
rection of the body. All
these images," he added,
u were good for the days of
the catacombs. For a long
time no one has believed in

MAYEKSTROSS.

OMEGA. i 27

them. Such ideas are opposed to science, and, most rev-
erend fathers you know, as well as I do, that we must be
in accord with science, which has ceased to be, as in the
time of Galileo, the humble servant of theology : theo-
logiae humilis ancilla.

" The body cannot be reconstituted, even by a miracle, so
long as its molecules return to nature and are appropriated,
successively, by so many beings human, animal and
vegetable. We are formed of the dust of the dead, and,
in the future, the molecules of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
carbon, phosphorus, sulphur, or iron, which make up our
flesh and our bones, will be incorporated in other human
organisms. This change is perpetual, even during life.
One human being dies every second ; that is more than
86,000 each day, more than 30,000,000 each year, more
than three milliards each century. In a hundred centuries
not a long period in the history of a planet, the number
of the resurrected would be three hundred milliards. If
the human race lived but a 100,000 years and no one
here is ignorant of the fact that geological and astro-
nomical periods are estimated by millions of years there
would be gathered before the judgment throne something
like three thousand milliards of men, women and children.
My estimate is a modest one, because I take no account of
the secular increase in population. You may reply to me,
that only the saved will rise ! What, then, will become
of the others ? Two weights and two measures ! Death

128 OMEGA.

and life ! Night and day, good and evil ! Divine injus-
tice and good-will, reigning together over creation ! But,
no, you will not accept such a solution. The eternal law
is the same for all. Well ! What will you do with these
thousands of milliards ? Show me the valley of Jehosha-
phat vast enough to contain them. Will you spread them
over the surface of the globe, do away with the oceans and
the icefields of the poles, and cover the world with a forest
of human bodies ? So be it ! And afterwards ? What
will become of this immense host? No, most holy
fathers, our beliefs must not, cannot, be taken literally.
Would that there were here no theologians with closed
eyes, that look only within, but astronomers with open
eyes, that look without."

These words had been uttered in the midst of an
indescribable tumult ; several times they wished to silence
the Croatian bishop, gesticulating violently and denounc-
ing him as schismatic ; but the rules did not permit this,
for the greatest liberty was allowed in the discussion. An
Irish cardinal called down upon him the thunders of the
Church, and spoke of excommunication and anathema ;
then, a distinguished prelate of the Gallican church, no less
a person than the archbishop of Paris himself, ascended the
rostrum and declared that the dogma of the resurrection
of the dead might be discussed without incurring any
canonical blame, and that it might be interpreted in entire
harmony with reason and faith. According to him one

OMEGA. 129

might admit the dogma, and at the same time recognize
the rational impossibility of a resurrection of the body !

" The Doctor Angelicas, " he said, speaking of St.
Thomas, " maintained that the complete dissolution of
every human body by fire would take place before the
resurrection. (Summa theologica, III.) I readily concede
with Calmet (on the resurrection of the dead) that to the
omnipotence of the Creator it would not be impossible to
reassemble the scattered molecules in such a way that the
resurrected body should not contain a single one which
did not belong to it at some time during its mortal life.
But such a miracle is not necessary. St. Thomas has him-
self shown (loco citato) that this complete material identity
is by no means indispensable to establish the perfect
identity of the resurrected body with the body destroyed
by death. I also think, therefore, that the letter should
give way to the spirit.

" What is the principle of identity, in a living body ?
Assuredly it does not consist in the complete and per-
sistent identity of its matter. For in this continual
change and renewal, which is the very essence of physio-
logical life, the elements, which have belonged successive-
ly from infancy to old age to the same human being, would
form a colossal body. In this torrent of life the elements
pass and change ceaselessly ; but the organism remains the
same, notwithstanding the modifications in its size, its form
and its constitution. Does the growing stem of the oak,

ISO OMEGA.

hidden between its two cotyledons, cease to be the same
plant when it has become a mighty oak ? Is the embryo
of the caterpillar, while yet in the egg, no longer the same
insect when it becomes a caterpillar, and then a chrysalis,
and then a butterfly ? Is individuality lost as the child
passes through manhood to old age ? Assuredly not. But
in the case of the oak, the butterfly, and the man, is there a
single remaining molecule of those which constituted the
growing stem of the oak, the egg of the caterpillar or the
human embryo ? What then is the principle which persists
through all these changes? This principle is a reality,
not a fiction. It is not the soul, for the plants have life,
and yet no souls, in the meaning of the word as we use it.
Nevertheless, it must be an imponderable agent. Does it
survive the body ? It is possible. St. Gregory of Nyssus
believed so. If it remains united to the soul, it may be
invoked to furnish it with a new body identical with that
which death has destroyed, even though this body should
not possess a single molecule which it possessed at any
period of its terrestrial life, and this would be as truly our
body as that which we had when five, fifteen, or thirty,
or sixty years of age.

" Such a conception agrees perfectly with the expressions
of holy writ, according to which it is certain that after a
period of separation the soul will again take on the body
forever.

" In addition to St. Gregory of Nyssus, permit me, most

OMEGA. 131

reverend fathers, to cite a philosopher L,eibnitz, who held
the opinion that the physiological principle of life was im-
ponderable but not incorporeal, and that the soul remains
united to this principle, although separated from the pon-
derable and visible body. I do not pretend to either ac-
cept or reject this hypothesis. I only note that it may
serve to explain the dogma of' the resurrection, in which
every Christian should firmly believe."

" This effort to conciliate reason and faith," interrupted
the Croatian bishop, " is worthy of praise, but it seems to
me more ingenious than probable. Are these bodies,
bodies like our own? If they are perfect, incorruptible,
fitted to their new conditions, they must not possess any
organ for which there is no use. Why a mouth, if they
do not eat ? Why legs, if they do not walk ? Why arms,
if they do not work? One of the fathers of the early
church, Origen, whose personal sacrifice is not forgotten,
thought these bodies must be perfect spheres. That would
be logical but not very beautiful or interesting."

" It is better to admit with St. Gregory of Nyssus and
St. Augustin," replied the archbishop, " that the resurrec-
ted body will have the human form, a transparent veil of
the beauty of the soul."

Thus was the modern theory of the Church on the
resurrection of the body summed up by the French cardinal.
As to the objections on the score of the locality of the
resurrection, the number of the resurrected, the insuffi-

ij2 OMEGA.

ciency of surface on the globe, the final abode of the elect
and the damned, it was impossible to come to any common
understanding for the contradictions were irreconcilable.
The resultant impression was, however, that these matters
also should be understood figuratively, that neither the
heaven or the hell of the theologian represented any definite
place, but rather states of the soul, of happiness or of
misery, and that life, whatever its form, would be perpetu-
ated on the countless worlds which people infinite space.
And so it appeared that Christian thought had gradually
become transformed, among the enlightened, and followed
the progress of astronomy and the other sciences.

The council had been held on Tuesday evening, that is
to say on the day following the two meetings of the Insti-
tute, of which an account has been given above. The
Pope had made public the advice of the president of the
Institute to leave Italy on the fatal day, but no attention
had been paid to it, partly because death is a deliverance
for every believer, and partly because most theologians
denied the existence even of inhabitants upon Mars.

CHAPTER VI.

IT is now time to pause, amid the eventful scenes through
which we are passing, in order to consider this new fear
of the end of the world with others which have preceded
it, and to pass rapidly in review the remarkable history of
this idea, which has reappeared again and again in the
past. At the time of which we are speaking, this subject
was the sole theme of conversation in every land and in

every tongue.

133

t34 OMEGA.

As to the dogma " Credo Resurrectionem Carnis," the
addresses of the fathers of the Church before the council
assembled in the Sistine chapel at Rome, were, on the
whole, in accord with the opinion expressed by the cardi-
nal archbishop of Paris. The clause " et vitam seternam "
was tacitly ignored, in view of the possible discoveries of
astronomy and psychology. These addresses epitomized,
as it were, the history of the doctrine of the end of the
world as held by the Christian Church in all ages.

This history is interesting, for it is also the history of
the human mind face to face with its own destiny, and we
believe it of sufficient importance to devote to it a separate
chapter. For the time being, therefore, we abandon our
role as the chronicler of the twenty-fourth century, and
return to our own times, in order to consider this doctrine
from an historical point of view.

The existence of a profound and tenacious faith is as
old as the centuries, and it is a notable fact that all relig-
ions, irrespective of Christian dogma, have opened the
same door from this mortal life upon the unknown which
lies beyond, it is the door of the Divine Comedy of Dante,
although the conceptions of paradise, hell and purgatory
peculiar to the Christian Church, are not universal.

Zoroaster and the Zend-Avesta taught that the world
would perish by fire. The same idea is found in the Epis-
tle of St. Peter. It seems that the traditions of Noah and
of Deucalion, according to which the first great disaster to

OMEGA. ijs

humanity came by flood, indicated that the second great
disaster would be of an exactly opposite character.

The apostles Peter and Paul died, probably, in the year
64, during the horrible slaughter ordered by Nero after the
burning of Rome, which had been fired at his command
and whose destruction he attributed to the Christians in
order that he might have a pretext for new persecutions.
St. John wrote the Apocalypse in the year 69. The reign
of Nero was a bloody one, and martyrdom seemed to be
the natural consequence of a virtuous life. Prodigies
appeared on every hand ; there were comets, falling stars,
eclipses, showers of blood, monsters, earthquakes, famines,
pestilences, and above all, there was the Jewish war and
the destruction of Jerusalem. Never, perhaps, were so
many horrors, so much cruelty and madness, so many catas-
trophes, crowded into so short a period as in the years
64-69 A.D. The little church of Christ was apparently
dispersed. It was impossible to remain in Jerusalem. The
horrors of the reign of terror of 1793, and of the Com-
mune of 1871, were as nothing in comparison with those
of the Jewish civil war. The family of Jesus was obliged
to leave the holy city and to seek safety in flight. False
prophets appeared, thus verifying former prophecies. Ve-
suvius was preparing the terrible eruption of the year 79,
and already, in 63, Pompeii had been destroyed by an
earthquake.

There was every indication that the end of the world

ij6 OMEGA.

was at hand. Nothing was wanting. The Apocalypse
announced it.

But a calm followed the storm. The terrible Jewish
war came to an end ; Nero fell before Galba ; under Ves-
pasian and Titus, peace (71) succeeded war, and the end
of the world was not yet.

Once more it became necessary to interpret anew the
words of the evangelists. The coming of Christ was put
off until after the fall of the Roman empire, and thus con-
siderable margin was given to the commentator. A firm
belief in a final and even an imminent catastrophe per-
sisted, but it was couched in vague terms, which robbed
the spirit as well as the letter of the prophecy of all pre-
cision. Still, the conviction remained.

St. Augustine devotes the xxth book of the City of God
(426) to the regeneration of the world, the resurrection,
the last judgment, and the New Jerusalem ; in the xxist
book he describes the everlasting torments of hell-fire. A
witness to the fall of Rome and the empire, the bishop of
Carthage believed these events to be the first act of the
drama. But the reign of God was to continue a thousand
years before the coming of Satan.

St. Gregory, bishop of Tours (573), the first historian of
the Franks, began his history as follows : " As I am about
to relate the wars of the kings with hostile nations, I feel
impelled to declare my belief. The terror with which
men await the end of the world decides me to chronicle

OMEGA. i 37

the years already passed, that thus one may know exactly
how many have elapsed since the beginning of the world."

This tradition was perpetuated from year to year and
from century to century, notwithstanding that nature failed
to confirm it. Every catastrophe, earthquake, epidemic,
famine and flood, every phenomenon, eclipse, comet, storm,
sudden darkness and tempest, was looked upon as the fore-
runner and herald of the final cataclysm. Trembling like
leaves in the blast, the faithful awaited the coming judg-
ment ; and preachers successfully worked upon this dread
apprehension, so deeply rooted in every heart.

But, as generation after generation passed, it became
necessary to define again the wide-spread tradition, and
about this time the idea of a millennium took form in the
minds of commentators. There were many sects which
believed that Christ would reign with the saints a thousand
years before the day of judgment. St. Irenus, St. Papias,
and St. Sulpicius Severus shared this belief, which acquired
an exaggerated and sensual form in the minds of many,
who looked forward to a day of general rejoicing for the
elect and a reign of pleasure. St. Jerome and St. Augus-
tine did much to discredit these views, but did not attack
the central doctrine of a resurrection. Commentators on
the Apocalypse continued to flourish through the somber
night of the middle ages, and in the tenth century espe-
cially the belief gained ground that the year 1000 was to
usher in the great change.

OMEGA .

This conviction of an approaching end of the world, if
not universal, was at least very general. Several charters
of the period began with this sentence : Termino mnndi
appropinquante : " The end of the world drawing near."
In spite of some exceptions, it seems difficult not to share
the opinion of historians, notably of Michelet, Henry
Martin, Guizot, and Duruy, regarding the prevalence of
this belief throughout Christendom. Doubtless, neither
the French monk Gerbert, at that time Pope Sylvester
II., nor King Robert of France, regulated their lives by
their superstition, but it had none the less penetrated
the conscience of the faint-hearted, and many a sermon
was preached from this text of the Apocalypse :

"And when the
thousand years are ex-
pired, Satan shall be
loosed out of his prison,
and shall go out to de-
ceive the nations which
are in the four quarters
of the earth . . .
and another book was
opened, which is the
Book of Life . .
and the sea gave up
the dead w r hich were
in it : and death and

VICTIMS OF THE PLAGUE.

OMEGA. 139

hell gave up the dead which were in them : and they were
judged every man according to his works . . . and I
saw a new heaven and a new earth."

Bernard, a hermit of Thuringia, had taken these very
words of Revelation as the text of his preaching, and in
about the year 960 he publicly announced that the end
of the world was at hand. He even fixed the fatal day
itself, as that on which " The Annunciation " and Holy
Friday should fall on the same day, a coincidence which
really occurred in 992.

Druthmar, a monk of Corbie, prophesied the end of the
world for the 24th of March in the year 1000. In many
cities popular terror was so great on that day that the
people sought refuge in the churches, remaining until
midnight, prostrate before the relics of the saints, in order
to await there the last trump and to die at the foot of the
cross.

From this epoch date many gifts to the Church. Lands
and goods were given to the monasteries. Indeed, an
authentic and very curious document is preserved, written
in the year 1000 by a certain monk, Raoul Glaber, on
whose first pages we find : " Satan will soon be unloosed,
as prophesied by St. John, the thozisand years having been
accomplished. It is of these years that we are to speak."

The end of the tenth century and the beginning of the
eleventh century was a truly strange and fearful period.
From 980 to 1040 it seemed as if the angel of death had

140 OMEGA.

spread his wings over the world. Famine and pestilence
desolated the length and breadth of Europe. There was
in the first place the " mal des ardents," the flesh of its
victims decaying and falling from the bones, was consumed
as by fire, and the members themselves were destroyed and
fell away. Wretches thus afflicted thronged the roads
leading to the shrines and besieged the churches, filling
them with terrible odors, and dying before the relics of the
saints. The fearful pest made more than forty thousand
victims in Acquitania, and devastated the southern portions
of France.

Then came famine, ravaging a large part of Christen-
dom. Of the seventy-three years between 987 and 1060,
forty-eight were years of famine and pestilence. The
invasion of the Huns, between 910 and 945, revived the
horrors of Attila, and the soil was so laid waste by wars
between domains and provinces that it ceased to be culti-
vated. For three years rain fell continuously ; it was
impossible either to sow or to reap. The earth became
barren and was abandoned. " The price of a ' muid ' of
wheat," writes Raoul Glaber, " rose to sixty gold sous ; the
rich waxed thin and pale ; the poor gnawed the roots of
trees, and many were in such extremity as to devour
human flesh. The strong fell upon the weak in the public
highways, tore them in pieces, and roasted them for food.
Children were enticed by an egg or some fruit into by-
ways, where they were devoured. This frenzy of hunger

OMEGA .

141

THE HUT IN THE FOREST OF MACON.

142 OMEGA.

was such that the beast was safer than man. Famished
children killed their parents, and mothers feasted upon
their children. One person exposed human flesh for sale
in the market place of Tournus, as if it were a staple arti-
cle of food. He did not deny the fact and was burned at
the stake. Another, stealing this flesh by night from the
spot where it had been buried, was also burned alive."

This testimony is that of one who lived at the time and
in many cases was an eye witness to what he relates. On
every side people were perishing of hunger, and did not
scruple to eat reptiles, unclean animals, and even human
flesh. In the depths of the forest of Macon, in the vicinity
of a church dedicated to St. John, a wretch had built a hut
in which he strangled pilgrims and wayfarers. One day a
traveller entering the hut with his wife to seek rest, saw
in a corner the heads of men, women and children.
Attempting to fly, they were prevented by their host.
They succeeded, however, in escaping, and on reaching
Macon, related what they had seen. Soldiers were sent to
the bloody spot, where they counted forty-eight human
heads. The murderer was dragged to the town and burned
alive. The hut and the ashes of the funeral pile were seen
by Raoul Glaber. So numerous were the corpses that
burial was impossible, and disease followed close upon
famine. Hordes of wolves preyed upon the unburied.
Never before had such misery been known.

War and pillage were the universal rule, but these

OMEGA .

143

scourges from heaven made men somewhat more reason-
able. The bishops came together, and it was agreed to
establish a truce for four days of each week, from Wednes-
day night to Monday morning. This was known as the
truce of God.

It is not strange that the end of so miserable a world
was both the hope and the terror of this mournful period.

The year 1000, however, passed like its predecessors,
and the world continued to exist. Were the prophets
wrong again, or did the thousand years of Christendom
point to the year 1033 ? The world waited and hoped.
In that very year occurred a total eclipse of the sun ; " The

" BANDS OF WOLVES PREYED UPON THE UNBURIED.''

i 4 4 O ME G A .

great source of light became saffron colored ; gazing into
each others faces men saw that they were pale as death ;
every object presented a livid appearance ; stupor seized
upon every heart and a general catastrophe was expected."
But the end of the world was not yet.

It was to this critical period that we owe the construc-
tion of the magnificent cathedrals which have survived
the ravages of time and excited the wonder of centuries.
Immense wealth had been lavished upon the clergy, and
their riches increased by donations and inheritence. A
new era seemed to be at hand. " After the year 1000," con-
tinues Raoul Glaber, " the holy basilicas throughout the
world were entirely renovated, especially in Italy and Gaul,
although for the most part they were in no need of repair.
Christian nations vied with each other in the erection of
magnificent churches. It seemed as if the entire world,
animated by a common impulse, shook off the rags of the
past to put on a new garment ; and the faithful were not
content to rebuild nearly all the episcopal churches, but
also embellished the monasteries dedicated to the various
saints, and even the chapels in the smaller villages."

The somber year 1000 had followed the vanished cen-
turies into the past, but through what troubled times the
Church had passed ! The popes were the puppets of the
rival Saxon emperors and the princes of Latium. All
Christendom was in arms. The crisis had passed, but
the problem of the end of the world remained, and ere-

OMEGA.

dence in this dread
certain and vague,
that profound be-
and in prodigies
endure for centur-
mind. The final
judgment was
the portals of ev-
on entering the
church one passed

event, though un-
was fostered by
lief in the devil
which was yet to
ies in the popular
scene of the last
sculptured over
ery cathedral, and
sanctuary of the
under the balance

of the archangel, on whose left writhed the bodies of the
devils and the damned, delivered over to the eternal flames
of hell.

But the idea that the world was to end was not con-
fined to the Church. In the twelfth century astrologers
terrified Europe by the announcement of a conjunction of
all the planets in the constellation of the scales. This
conjunction indeed, occurred, for on September i5th all
the planets were found between the iSoth and iQOth de-
grees of longitude. But the end of the world did not
come.

The celebrated alchemist, Arnauld de Villeneuve, fore-
told it again for the year 1335. In 1406, under Charles
vi., an eclipse of the sun, occurring on June i6th, produced
a general panic, which is chronicled by Juvenal of the
Ursuline Order : " It is a pitiable sight," he says, " to see
people taking refuge in the churches as if the world were

OMEGA .

about to perish." In 1491 St. Vincent Ferrier wrote a
treatise entitled, " De la Fin du Monde et de la Science
Spirituelle." He allows Christendom as many years of life
as there are verses in the psalter, namely, 2537. Then a
German astrologer, one Stonier, predicted that on February
20, 1524, a general deluge would result from a conjunction
of the planets. He was very generally believed, and the
panic was extreme. Property situated in valleys, along
river banks, or near the sea, was sold to the less credulous
for a mere nothing. A certain doctor, Auriol, of Toulouse,
had an ark built for himself, his family and his friends,
and Bodin asserts that he was not the only one who took
this precaution.

There were few sceptics. The grand chancellor of
Charles v. sought the advice of Pierre Martyr, who
told him that the event would not be as fatal as was
feared, but that the conjunction of the planets would
doubtless occasion grave disasters. The fatal day ar-
rived . . . and never
had the month of February
been so dry! But this did
not prevent new predic-
tions for the year 1532, by
the astrologer of the elec-
tor of Brandenburg, Jean
Carion ; and again for the
year 1584, by the astrol-

OMEGA

147

oger Cyprian lyeowitz. It was again a question of a
deluge, due to planetary conjunctions. u The terror of the
populace," writes a contemporary, Louis Guyon, "was
extreme, and the churches could not hold the multitudes
which fled to them for refuge ; many made their wills
without stopping to think that this availed little if the
world was really to perish ; others donated their goods to
the clergy, in the hope that their prayers would put off
the day of judgment."

In 1588 there was another astrological prediction,
couched in apocalyptic language, as follows : " The eighth
year following the fifteen hundred and eightieth anni-
versary of the birth of Christ will be a year of prodigies
and terror. If in this terrible year the globe be not
dissolved in dust, and the land and the sea be not destroyed,
every kingdom will be overthrown and humanity will
travail in pain."

As might be expected,
the celebrated soothsayer,
Nostradamus, is found
among these prophets of
evil. In his book of
rhymed prophecies, en-
titled Centuries, we find
the following quatrain,
which excited much
speculation :

148 OMEGA.

Quand Georges Dieu crucifiera,
Que Marc le ressuscitera,
Bt que St. Jean le portera,
L,a fin du moiide arrivera.

The meaning of which is, that when Easter falls on the
twenty-fifth of April (St. Mark's day), Holy Friday will
fall on the twenty-third (St. George's day), and Corpus
Christi on the twenty-fourth of June (St. John's day), and
the end of the world will come. This verse was not with-
out malice, for at this time (Nostradamus died in 1556) the
calendar had not been reformed ; this was not done until
1582, and it was impossible for Easter to fall on the twenty-
fifth of April. In the sixteenth century, the twenty-fifth
of April corresponded to the fifteenth ; the day following
November 4, 1582, was called the fifteenth. After the
introduction of the Gregorian calendar, Easter might fall
on the twenty-fifth of April, its latest possible date, and
this was the case in 1666, 1734, 1886, as it will be again
in 1942, 2038, 2190, etc., the end of the world, however,
not being a necessary consequence of this coincidence.

Planetary conjunctions, eclipses and comets were alike
the basis for prophecies of evil. Among the comets re-
corded in history we may mention, as the most remarkable
from this point of view, that of William the Conqueror,
which appeared in 1066, and which is pictured on the
tapestry of Queen Matilda, at Bayeux ; that of 1264, which,

OMEGA .

149

it is said, disappeared the
very day of the death of
Pope Urban iv.; that of
1327, one of the largest
and most imposing ever
seen, which " presaged "
the death of Frederick,
king of Sicily ; that of
1399, which Juvenal, the
Ursuline, described as
"the harbinger of com-
ing evil ; " that of 1402, to which was ascribed the death of
Gian Galeazzo, Visconti, duke of Milan ; that of 1456, which
filled all Christendom with terror, under Pope Calixtus
in., during the war with the Turks, and which is associa-
ted with the history of the Angelus ; and that of 1472,
which preceded the death of the brother of Louis xi.
There were others, also, associated like the preceding, with
catastrophes and wars, and especially with the dreaded last
hours of the race. That of 1527 is described "by Ambroise
Pare, and by Simon Goulart, as formed of severed heads,
poignards and bloody clouds. The comet of 1531 was
thought to herald the death of Louise of Savoy, mother of
Francis i., and this princess shared the popular superstition
in reference to evil stars : " Behold ! " she exclaimed from
her bed, on perceiving the comet through the window,
" behold an omen which is not given to one of low degree.

ISO OMEGA.

God sends it as a warning to us. L,et us prepare to meet
death." Three days after, she died. But the famous
comet of Charles v., appearing in 1556, was perhaps the
most memorable of all. It had been identified as the
comet of 1264, and its return was announced for 1848.
But it did not reappear.

The comets of 1577, 1607, 1652 and 1665 were the
subjects of endless commentaries, forming a library by
themselves. At the last of these Alphonso vi., king of
Portugal, angrily discharged his pistol, with the most
grotesque defiance. Pierre Petit, by order of L,ouis xiv.,
published a work designed to counteract the foolish, and
political, apprehensions excited by comets. This illus-
trious king desired to be without a rival, the only sun,
" Nee pluribus impar ! " and would not admit the sup-
position that the glory of France could be imperilled even
by a celestial phenomenon.

One of the greatest comets which ever struck the
imagination of men was assuredly the famous comet of
1680, to which Newton devoted so much attention. " It
issued," said L,emonnier, " with a frightful velocity from
the depths of space and seemed falling directly into the sun
and was seen to vanish with an equal velocity. It was
visible for four months. It approached quite near to the
earth, and Winston ascribed the deluge to its former ap-
pearance." Bayle wrote a treatise to prove the absurdity
of beliefs founded on these portents. Madame de Sevigne

OMEGA. 151

writing to her cousin, Count de Bussy-Rabutin, says : " We
have a comet of enormous size ; its tail is the most beau-
tiful object conceivable. Hvery person of note is alarmed
and believes that heaven, interested in their fate, sends
them a warning" in this comet. They say that the courtiers
of Cardinal Mazarin, who is despaired of by his physicians
believe this prodigy is in honor of his passing away, and
tell him of the terror with which it has inspired them. He
had the sense to laugh at them, and to reply facetiously
that the comet did him too much honor. In truth we
ought all to agree with him, for human pride assumes too
much when it believes that death is attended by such signs
from heaven."

We see that comets were gradually losing their prestige.
Yet we read in a treatise of the astronomer Bernouilli this
singular remark : "If the head of the comet be not a
visible sign of the anger of God, the tail may well be"

Fear of the end of the world was reawakened by the
appearance of comets in 1773 ; a great panic spread
throughout Europe, and Paris itself was alarmed. Here is
an extract from the memoirs of Bachaumont, accessible to
every reader :

" May 6th, 1773. In the last public meeting of the
Academy of Sciences, M de L,alande was to read by far
the most interesting paper of all ; this, however, he was
not able to do, for lack of time. It concerned the comets
which, by approaching the earth, may cause revolutions.

152 OMEGA.

and dealt especially with that one whose return is expected
in eighteen years. But although he affirmed that it was
not one of those which would harm the earth, and that,
moreover, he had observed that one could not fix, with any
exactness, the order of such occurrences, there exists,
nevertheless, a very general anxiety,

" May 9th. The cabinet of M. de Lalande is filled with
the curious who come to question him concerning the
above memoir, and, in order to reassure those who have
been alarmed by the exaggerated rumors circulated about
it, he will doubtless be forced to make it public. The
excitement has been so great that some ignorant fanatics
have besought the archbishop to institute prayers for forty
hours, in order to avert the deluge which menaces us ;
and this prelate would have authorized these prayers, had
not the Academy shown him the ridiciile which such a
step would produce.

" May 1 4th. The memoir of M. de Lalande has ap-
peared. He says that it is his opinion that, of the sixty
known comets, eight, by their near approach to the earth,
might produce a pressure such that the sea would leave its
bed and cover a part of the world."

In time, the excitement died away. The fear of comets
assumed a new form. They were no longer regarded as
indications of the anger of God, but their collision with
the earth was discussed from a scientific point of view, and
these collisions were not considered free of danger. At the

OMEGA. 153

close of the last century, Laplace stated his views on this
question, in the forcible language which we have quoted
in Chapter n.

In this century, predictions concerning the end of the
world have several times been associated with the appear-
ance of comets. It was announced that the comet of
Biela, for example, would intersect the earth's orbit on
October 29, 1832, which it did, as predicted. There
was great excitement. Once more the end of things was
declared at hand. Humanity was threatened. What was
going to happen ?

The orbit, that is to say the path, of the earth had been
confounded with the earth itself. The latter was not to
reach that point of its orbit traversed by the comet until
November 3oth, more than a month after the comet's
passage, and the latter was at no time to be within
20,000,000 leagues of us. Once more we got off with a
fright.

It was the same in 1857. Some prophet of ill omen
had declared that the famous comet of Charles v., whose
periodic time was thought to be three centuries, would
return on the i3th of June of that year. More than one
timid soul was rendered anxious, and the confessionals of
Paris were more than usually crowded with penitents.
Another prediction was made public in 1872, in the name
of an astronomer, who, however, was not responsible for it
M. Plantamour, director of the Geneva observatory.

154 OMEGA.

As in the case of comets, so with, other unusual phenom-
ena, such as total solar eclipses, mysterious suns appearing
suddenly in the skies, showers of shooting stars, great
volcanic eruptions accompanied with the darkness of
night and seeming to threaten the burial of the world in
ashes, earthquakes overthrowing and engulfing houses and
cities all these grand and terrible events have been con-
nected with the fear of an immediate and universal end of
men and things.

The history of eclipses alone would suffice to fill a vol-
ume, no less interesting than the history of comets. Con-
fining our attention to a modern example, one of the last
total eclipses of the sun, visible in France, that of August
12, 1654, had been foretold by astronomers, and its an-
nouncement had produced great alarm. For some it
meant the overthrow of states and the fall of Rome ; for
others it signified a new deluge; there were those who
believed that nothing less than the destruction of the world
by fire was inevitable ; while the more collected anticipated
the poisoning of the atmosphere. Belief in these dreaded
results were so widespread, that, in order to escape them,
and by the express order of physicians, many terrified peo-
ple shut themselves up in closed cellars, warmed and per-
fumed. We refer the reader, especially, to the second
evening of L,es Mondes of Fontenelle. Another writer of
the same century, Petit, to whom we referred a moment
ago, in his Dissertation on the Nature of Comets says, that

OMEGA.

155

PEOPLE SEEKING REFUGE IN CLOSED CELLARS.

/5<5 OMEGA.

the consternation steadily increased up to the fatal day,
and that a country curate, unable to confess all who be-
lieved their last hour was at hand, at sermon time told his
parishioners not to be in such haste, for the eclipse had
been put off for a fortnight ; and these good people were
as ready to believe in the postponement of the eclipse as
they had been in its malign influence.

At the time of the last total solar eclipses visible in
France, namely, those of May 12, 1706; May 22, 1724, and
July 8, 1842, as also of the partial ones of October 9, 1847;
July 28, 1851; March 15, 1858; July 18, 1860, and Decem-
ber 22, 1870, there was more or 'less apprehension on the
part of the timid; at least, we know, from trustworthy
sources, that in each of these cases these natural phenom-
ena were interpreted by a certain class in Europe as possi-
ble signs of divine wrath, and in several religious educa-
tional establishments the pupils were requested to offer up
prayers as the time of the eclipse drew near. This mys-
tical interpretation of the order of nature is slowly disap-
pearing among enlightened nations, and the next total
eclipse of the sun, visible in southern France on May 28,
1900, will probably inspire no fear on the French side of
the Pyrenees ; but it might be premature to make the same
statement regarding those who will observe it from the
Spanish side of the mountains.

Among uncivilized people these phenomena excite today
the same terror which they once did among us. This fact

OMEGA. 157

is frequently attested by travellers, especially in Africa.
During the eclipse of July 18, 1860, in Algeria, men
and women resorted to prayer or fled affrighted to their
homes. During the eclipse of July 29, 1878, which was
total in the United States, a negro, suddenly crazed with
terror, and persuaded that the end of the world was com-
ing, cut the throats of his wife and children.

It must be admitted that such phenomena are well cal-
culated to overwhelm the imagination. The sun, the god
of day, the star upon whose light we are dependent, grows
dim ; and, just before it becomes extinguished, takes on a
sickly and mournful hue. The light of the sky pales,
the animal creation is stricken with terror, the beast of
burden falters at his task, the dog flees to its master, the
hen retreats with her brood to the coop, the birds cease
their songs, and have been seen even to drop dead with
fright. Arago relates that during the total eclipse of
the sun at Perpignan, on July 8, 1842, twenty thou-
sand spectators were assembled, forming an impressive
spectacle. "When the solar disc was nearly obscured,
an irresistible anxiety took possession of everybody ; each
felt the need of sharing his impressions with his neigh-
bor. A deep murmur arose, like that of the far away
sea after a storm. This murmur deepened as the crescent
of light grew less, and when it had disappeared and sud-
den darkness had supervened, the silence which ensued
marked this phase of the eclipse as accurately as the

i$8 OMEGA.

pendulum of our astronomical clock. The magnificence
of the spectacle triumphed over the petulance of youth,
over the frivolity which some people mistake for a sign
of superiority, over the indifference which the soldier
frequently assumes. A profound silence reigned also in
the sky : the birds had ceased their songs. After a sol-
emn interval of about two minutes, joyous transports and
frantic applause greeted with the same spontaneity the
first reappearance of the solar rays, and the melancholy and
indefinable sense of depression gave way to a deep and un-
feigned exultation which no one sought to moderate or
repress."

Every one who witnessed this phenomenon, one of the
most sublime which nature offers, was profoundly moved,
and took away with him an impression never to be forgot-
ten. The peasants especially were terrified by the dark-
ness, as they believed that they were losing their sight. A
poor child, tending his flock, completely ignorant of what
was coming, saw the sun slowly growing dim in a cloud-
less sky. When its light had entirely disappeared the
poor child, completely carried away by terror, began to cry
and call for help. His tears flowed again when the first
ray of light reappeared. Reassured, he clasped his hands,
crying, " O, beautiful sun ! "

Is not the cry of this child the cry of humanity ?

So long as eclipses were not known to be the natural
consequences of the motion of the moon about the earth,

OMEGA .

159

and before it was understood that their occurrence could
be predicted with the utmost precision, it was natural that
they should have produced a deep impression and been as-
sociated with the idea of the end of the world. The same
is true of other celestial phenomena and notably of the
sudden appearance of unknown suns, an event much rarer
than an eclipse.

The most celebrated of these appearances was that of
1572. On the nth of November of that year, about a
month after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, a brilliant
star of the first magnitude suddenly appeared in the con-

stellation of Cassi-
faction was gener-
part of the public,
ible every night in
on the part of sci-
not explain its ap-
ogers found a solu-
in the assertion that
the Magi, whose
nounced the return
the last judgment
tion. This state-
impression upon all
The star gradually
splendor, and at the
teen months went

"O, BEAUTIFUL SUN !"

opeia. The stupe-
al, not only on the
to which it was vis-
the sky, but also
entists, who could
pearance. Astrol-
tion of the enigma
it was the star of
reappearance a n -
of the Son of God,
and the resurrec-
ment made a deep
classes of society,
diminished in
end of about eigh-
out, without having

160 OMEGA.

caused any other disaster than that which human folly
itself adds to the misery of a none too prosperous planet.
Science records several apparitions of this nature, but the
above was the most remarkable. A like agitation has ac-
companied all the grand phenomena of nature, especially
those which have been unforeseen. In the chronicles of the
middle ages, and even in more recent memoirs, we read of
the terror which the aurora borealis, showers of shooting
stars and the fall of meteorites have produced among the
alarmed spectators. Recently, during the meteor shower
of November 27, 1873, when the sky was rilled with more
than forty thousand meteorites belonging to the dispersed
comet of Biela, women of the lower classes, at Nice es-
pecially, as also at Rome, in their excitement sought infor-
mation of those whom they thought able to explain the
cause of these celestial fireworks, which they had at once
associated with the end of the world and with the fall of
the stars, which it was foretold would usher in that last
great event.

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have sometimes at-
tained such proportions as to lead to the fear that the end
of the world was at hand. Imagine the state of mind of
the inhabitants of Herculaneum and of Pompeii when the
eruption of Vesuvius buried them in showers of ashes !
Was not this for them the end of the world ? And more
recently, were not those who witnessed the eruption of
Krakatoa of the same opinion? Impenetrable darkness

OMEGA. 161

lasting eighteen hours, an atmosphere like a furnace, filling
the eyes, nose and ears with ashes, the deep and incessant
cannonade of the volcano, the falling of pumice stones from
the black sky, the terrible scene illuminated only at inter-
vals by the lurid lightning or the fire-balls on the spars and
rigging of vessels, the thunder echoing from cloud and sea
with an infernal musketry, the shower of ashes turning into
a deluge of mud this was the experience of the passen-
gers of a Java vessel during the night of eighteen hours,
from the 26th to the 28th of August, 1883, when a portion
of the island of Krakatoa was hurled into the air, and the
sea, after having first retreated, swept upon the shore to a
height of thirty-five meters and to a distance of from one to
ten kilometers over a coast-line of five hundred kilometers,
and in the reflux carried away with it the four cities, Tjir-
ingin, Merak, Telok-Betong and Anjer, and the entire pop-
ulation of the region, more than forty thousand souls. For
a long time the progress of vessels was hindered by floating
bodies inextricably interlaced ; and human fingers, with their
nails, and fragments of heads, with their hair were found in
the stomachs of fishes. Those who escaped, or who saw
the catastrophe from some vessel, and lived to welcome
again the light of day, which had seemed forever extin-
guished, relate in terror with what resignation they ex-
pected the end of the world, persuaded that its very foun-
dations were giving way and that the knell of a universal
doom had sounded. One eye-witness assures us that he

162 OMEGA.

would not again pass through such an experience for all
the wealth that could be imagined. The sun was extin-
guished and death seemed to reign sovereign over nature.
This eruption, moreover, was of such terrific violence that
it was heard through the earth at the antipodes ; it reached
an altitude of twenty thousand meters, producing an at-
mospheric disturbance which made the circuit of the entire
globe in thirty-five hours (the barometer fell four milomet-
ers in Paris even), and left for more than a year in the
upper layers of the atmosphere a fine dust, which, illu-
mined by the sun, gave rise to those magnificent twilight
displays admired so much throughout the world.

These are formidable disturbances, partial ends of the
world. Certain earthquakes deserve citation with these
terrible volcanic eruptions, so disastrous have been their
consequences. In the earthquake of Lisbon, November i,
1755, thirty thousand persons perished ; the shock was felt
over an area four times as large as that of Europe. When
Ivima was destroyed, October 28, 1724, the sea rose twenty-
seven meters above its ordinary level, rushed upon the city
and erased it so completely that not a single house was left.
Vessels were found in the fields several kilometers from the
shore. On December 10, 1869, tne inhabitants of the city
of Onlah, in Asia Minor, alarmed by subterranean noises
and a first violent trembling of the earth, took refuge on a
neighboring hilltop, whence, to their stupefaction, they saw
several crevasses open in the city which within a few

OMEGA.

" FLOATING BODIES INEXTRICABLY INTERLACED.'

164 OMEGA.

moments entirely disappeared in the bowels of the earth.
We have direct evidence that under circumstances far less
dramatic, as for example on the occasion of the earthquake
at Nice, February 23, 1887, the idea of the end of the
world was the very first which presented itself to the
mind.

The history of the earth furnishes a remarkable number
of like dramas, catastrophes of a partial character, threat-
ening the world's final destruction. It is fitting that we
should devote a moment to the consideration of these great
phenomena, as also to the history of that belief in the end
of the world which has appeared in every age, though mod-
ified by the progress of human knowledge. Faith has in
part disappeared ; mystery and superstition, which struck
the imagination of our ancestors, and which has been so
curiously represented in the portals of our great cathe-
drals, and in the sculpture and painting inspired by Chris-
tian traditions, this theological aspect of the last great day,
has given place to the scientific study of the probable life
of the solar system to which we belong. The geocentric
and anthropocentric conception of the universe, which
makes man the center and end of creation, has become grad-
ually transformed and has at last disappeared ; for we
know that our humble planet is but an island in the infi-
nite, that human history has thus far been founded on
pure illusions, and that the dignity of man consists in
his intellectual and moral worth. Is not the destiny and

OMEGA. 165

sovereign end of the human mind the exact knowledge of
things, the search after truth ?

During the nineteenth century, evil prophets, more or
less sincere, have twenty-five times announced the end of
the world, basing their prophecies upon cabalistic calcula-
tions destitute of serious foundation. Like predictions
will recur so long as the race exists.

But this historic interlude, although opportune, has for
a moment interrupted our narrative. Let us hasten to
return to the twenty-fifth century, for we have reached its
most critical moment.

CHAPTER VII.

INEXORABLY, with a fatality no power could arrest, like
a projectile speeding from the mouth of a cannon toward
the target, the comet continued to advance, following its
appointed path, and hurrying, with an ever-increasing
velocity, toward the point in space at which the earth
would be found on the night of July 14-15. The final
calculations were absolutely without error. These two
heavenly bodies the earth and the comet were to meet
like two trains, rushing headlong upon each other, with
resistless momentum, as if impelled to mutual destruction
by an insatiable rage. But in the present instance the
velocity of shock would be 865 times that of two express
trains having each a speed of one hundred kilometers per
hour.

OMEGA. 167

During the night of July 13-14, the comet spread over
nearly the entire sky, and whirlwinds of fire could be seen
by the naked eye, eddying about an axis oblique to the
zenith. The appearance was that of an army of flaming
meteors, in whose midst the flashing lightning produced
the effect of a furious combat. The burning star had a
revolution of its own, and seemed to be convulsed with
pain, like a living thing. Immense jets of flame issued
from various centers, some of a greenish hue, others red as
blood, while the most brilliant were of a dazzling white-
ness. It was evident that the sun was acting powerfully
upon this whirlpool of gases, decomposing certain of them,
forming detonating compounds, electrifying- the nearer
portions, and repelling the smoke from about the immense
nucleus which was bearing down upon the world. The
comet itself emitted a light far different from the sunlight
reflected by the enveloping vapors ; and its flames, shoot-
ing forth in ever-increasing volume, gave it the appearance
of a monster, precipitating itself upon the earth to devour
it. Perhaps the most striking feature of this spectacle
was the absence of all sound. At Paris, as elsewhere, dur-
ing that eventful night, the crowd instinctively main-
tained silence, spellbound by an indescribable fascination,
endeavoring to catch some echo of the celestial thunder
but not a sound was heard.

The moon rose full, showing green upon the fiery back-
ground of the sky, but without brilliancy and casting no

1 68 OMEGA.

shadows. The night was no more night, for the stars had
disappeared, and the sky glowed with an intense light.

The comet was approaching the earth with a velocity
of 41,000 meters per second, or 2460 kilometers per min-
ute, that is, 147,600 kilometers per hour ; and the earth
was itself travelling through space, from west to east, at
the rate of 29,000 meters per second, 1740 kilometers per
minute, or 104,400 kilometers per hour, in a direction
oblique to the orbit of the comet, which for any meridian
appeared at midnight in the northeast. Thus, in virtue
of their velocities, these two celestial bodies were nearing
each other at the rate of 173,000 kilometers per hour.
When observation, which was in entire accord with the
computations previously made, established the fact that
the nucleus of the comet was at a distance no greater than
that of the moon, everyone knew that two hours later the
first phenomena of the coming shock would begin.

Contrary to all expectation, Friday and Saturday, the
1 3th and i4th of July were, like the preceding days, won-
derfully beautiful ; the sun shone in a cloudless sky, the
air was tranquil, the temperature rather high, but cooled
by a light, refreshing breeze. Nature was in a joyous
mood, the country was luxuriant with beauty, the streams
murmured in the valleys, the birds sang in the woods ;
but the dwelling places of man were heartrendingly sad.
Humanity was prostrated with terror, and the impassible
calm of nature stood over against the agonizing fear of

OMEGA .

169

the human heart in painful and harrowing contrast.
Two millions of people had fled to Australia from Paris,
London, Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Rome and Madrid.
As the day of collision approached, the Trans-Atlantic
Navigation company had been obliged to increase three-
fold, fourfold, and even tenfold, the number of air-ships,
which settled like flocks of birds upon San Francisco,
Honolulu, Noumea, and the Australian cities of Mel-

PEOPLE LEAVING PARIS.

I7o OMEGA.

bourne, Sidney and Pax. But this exodus of millions
represented only the fortunate minority, and their absence
was scarcely noticed in the towns and villages, swarming
with restless and anxious life.

Haunted by the fear of unknown perils, for several
nights no one had been able to close their eyes, or even
dared to go to bed. To do so, seemed to court the last
sleep and to abandon all hope of awakening again. Every
face was livid with terror, every eye was sunken ; the hair
was dishevelled, the countenance haggard and stamped
with the impress of the most frightful anguish which had
ever preyed upon the human soul.

The atmosphere was growing drier and warmer. Since
the evening before, no one had bethought himself of food,
and the stomach, usually so imperious in its demands,
craved for nothing. A burning thirst was the first physio-
logical effect of the dryness of the atmosphere, and the
most self-restrained sought, in every possible way, to
quench it, though without success. Physical pain had
begun its work, and was soon to dominate mental suffer-
ing. Hour by hour, respiration became more difficult,
more exhausting and more painful. Little children, in
the presence of this new suffering, appealed in tears to
their mothers.

At Paris, London, Rome and St. Petersburg, in every
capital, in every city, in every village, the terrified popu-
lation wandered about distractedly, like ants when their

OMEGA .

171

" STRANGERS TO THE UNIVERSAL PANIC."

habitations are disturbed. All the business of ordinary
life was neglected, abandoned, forgotten ; every project
was set aside. No one cared any longer for anything, for
his house, his family, his life. There existed a moral
prostration and dejection, more complete than even that
which is produced by sea-sickness. Some few, abandon-
ing themselves to the exaltation of love, seemed to live
only for each other, strangers to the universal panic.

Catholic and Protestant churches, Jewish synagogues,
Greek chapels, Mohammedan mosques and Buddhist tern-

172 OMEGA.

pies, the sanctuaries of the new Galilean religion in
short, the places of assembly of every sect into which the id-
iosyncrasies of belief had divided mankind, were thronged
by the faithful on that memorable day of Friday, July
1 3th ; and even at Paris the crowds besieging the portals
were such that no one could get near the churches, within
which were to be seen vast multitudes, all prostrate upon
the ground. Prayers were muttered in low tones, but no
chant, no organ, no bell was to be heard. The confes-
sionals were surrounded by penitents, waiting their turn,
as in those early days of sincere and naive faith described
by the historians of the middle ages.

Everywhere on the streets and on the boulevards the
same silence reigned ; not a sound disturbed the hush,
nothing was sold, no paper was printed ; aviators, aero-
planes, dirigible balloons were no more to be seen ; the
only vehicles passing were the hearses bearing to the
crematories the first victims of the comet, already numer-
ous. The days of July i3th and i4th had passed without
incident, but with what anxiety the fateful night was
awaited ! Never, perhaps, had there been so magnificent
a sunset, never a sky so pure ! The orb of day seemed
to go down in a sea of gold and purple ; its red disc dis-
appeared below the horizon, but the stars did not rise
and night did not come ! To the daylight succeeded a
day of cometary and lunar splendor, illuminated by a
dazzling light, recalling that of the aurora borealis, but

OMEGA. 173

more intense, emanating from an immense blazing focus,
which had not been visible during the day because it had
been below the horizon, but which would certainly have
rivalled the sun in brilliancy. Amid the universal plaint
of nature, this luminous center rose in the west almost at
the same time with the full moon, which climbed the sky
with it like a sacrificial victim ascending the funeral pyre.
The moon paled as it mounted higher, but the comet
increased in brightness as the sun sank below the western
horizon, and now, when the hour of night had come, it
reigned supreme, a vaporous, scarlet sun, with flames of
yellow and green, like immense extended wings. To the
terrified spectator it seemed some enormous giant, taking
sovereign possession of earth and sky.

Already the cometary fringes had invaded the lunar
orbit. At any moment they would reach the rarer limits
of the earth's atmosphere, only two hundred kilometers
away.

Then everyone beheld, as it were, a vast conflagration,
kindled over the whole extent of the horizon, throwing
skyward little violet flames, and almost immediately the
brilliancy of the comet diminished, doubtless because just
before touching the earth it had entered into the shadow
of the planet and had lost that part of its light which
came from the sun. This apparent decrease in brilliancy
was chiefly due to contrast, for when the eye, less dazzled,
had become accustomed to this new light, it seemed

274 OMEGA.

almost as intense as the former, but of a sickly, lurid,
sepulchral hue. Never before had the earth been bathed
in such a light, which at first seemed to be colorless,
emitting lightning flashes from its pale and wan depths.
The dryness of the air, hot as the breath of a furnace,
became intolerable, and a horrible odor of sulphur, prob-
ably due to the super-electrified ozone, poisoned the atmos-
phere. Everyone believed his last hour was at hand. A
terrible cry dominated every other sound. The earth is
on fire ! The earth is on fire ! Indeed, the entire horizon
was now illuminated by a ring of bluish flame, surround-
ing the earth like the flames of a funeral pile. This, as
had been predicted, was the carbonic-oxide, whose com-
bustion in the air produced carbonic-anhydride.

Suddenly, as the terrified spectator gazed silent and
awestruck, holding his very breath in a stupor of fear, the
vault of heaven seemed rent asunder from zenith to hori-
zon, and from this yawning chasm, as from an enormous
mouth, was vomited forth jets of dazzling greenish flame,
enveloping the earth in a glare so blinding, that all who
had not already sought shelter, men and women, the old
and the young, the bold as well as the timid, all rushed
with the impetuosity of an avalanche to the cellarways,
already choked with people. Many were crushed to death,
or succumbed to apoplexy, aneurismal ruptures, and wild
delirium resulting in brain fever.

On the terraces and in the observatories, however, the

OMEGA, 175

astronomers had remained at their posts, and several had
succeeded in taking an uninterrupted series of photographs
of the sky changes ; and from this time, but for a very
brief interval, with the exception of a few courageous
spirits, who dared to gaze upon the awful spectacle from
behind the windows of some upper apartment, they were
the sole witnesses of the collision.

Computation had indicated that the earth would pene-
trate the heart of the comet as a bullet would penetrate a
cloud, and that the transit, reckoning from the first instant
of contact of the outer zones of the comet's atmosphere
with those of the earth, would consume four and one-half
hours, a fact easily established, inasmuch as the comet,
having a diameter about sixty-five times that of the earth,
would be traversed, not centrally, but at one-quarter of the
distance from the center, with a velocity of about 173,000
kilometers per hour. Nearly forty minutes after the first
instant of contact, the heat of this incandescent furnace,
and the horrible odor of sulphur, became so suffocating
that a few moments more of such torture would have
sufficed to destroy every vestige of life. Even the astron-
omers crept painfully from room to room within the ob-
servatories which they had endeavored to close hermeti-
cally, and sought shelter in the cellars ; and the young
computer, whose acquaintance we have already made, was
the last to remain on the terrace, at Paris, a few seconds
only, but long enough to witness the explosion of a for-

OMEGA .

midable bolide, which was rushing southward with the
velocity of lightning. But strength was lacking for fur-
ther observations. One could breathe no longer. Besides
the heat and the dryness, so destructive to every vital
function, there was the carbonic-oxide which was already
beginning to poison the atmosphere. The ears were filled
with a dull, roaring sound, the heart beat ever more and

more violently; and still
this choking odor of
sulphur ! At the same
time a fiery rain fell
from every quarter of
the sky, a rain of shoot-
ing stars, the immense
majority of which did
not reach the earth, al-
though many fell upon
the roofs, and the fires
which they kindled
could be seen in every
direction. To these fires
from heaven the fires of earth now made answer, and
the world was surrounded with electric flashes, as by an
army. Everyone, without thinking for an instant of
flight, had abandoned all hope, expecting every moment
to be buried in the ruins of the world, and those who
still clung to each other, and whose only consolation was

A FIERY RAIN FELL FROM EVERY QUARTER
OF THE SKY."

OMEGA. 777

that of dying together, clung closer, in a last embrace.

But the main body of the celestial army had passed, and
a sort of rarefaction, of vacuum, was produced in the
atmosphere, perhaps as the result of meteoric explosions ;
for suddenly the windows were shattered, blown outwards,
and the doors opened of themselves. A violent wind
arose, adding fury to the conflagration. Then the rain
fell in torrents, but reanimating at the same time the
extinguished hope of life, and waking mankind from its
nightmare.

" The XXVth Century ! Death of the Pope and all the
bishops ! Fall of the comet at Rome ! Paper, sir f "

Scarcely a half hour had passed before people began to
issue from their cellars, feeling again the joy of living,
and recovering gradually from their apathy. Even before
one had really begun to take any account of the fires
which were still raging, notwithstanding the deluge or
rain, the scream of the newsboy was heard in the hardly
awakened streets. Everywhere, at Paris, Marseilles, Brus-
sels, London, Vienna, Turin and Madrid, the same news
was being shouted, and before caring for the fires which
were spreading on every side, everyone bought the popu-
lar one-cent sheet, with its sixteen illustrated pages fresh
from the press.

" The Pope and the cardinals crushed to death ! The
sacred college destroyed by the comet ! Extra ! Extra ! "

The newsboys drove a busy trade, for everyone was

I 7 8

OMEGA .

anxious to know the truth, of these an-
nouncements, and eagerly bought the
great popular socialistic paper.

This is what had taken place. The
American Hebrew, to whom we have al-
ready referred, and who, on the preced-
ing Tuesday, had managed to make sev-
eral millions by the reopening of the
Paris and Chicago exchanges, had not
"EXTRA!" for a moment yielded to despair, and, as

in other days, the monasteries had accepted bequests made
in view of the end of the world, so our indefatigable
speculator had thought best to remain at his telephone,
which he had caused to be taken down for the nonce into
a vast subterranean gallery, hermetically closed. Con-
trolling special wires uniting Paris with the principal cities
of the world, he was in constant communication with
them. The nucleus of the comet had contained within
its mass of incandescent gas a certain number of solid
uranolites, some of which measured several kilometers in
diameter. One of these masses had struck the earth not
far from Rome, and the Roman correspondent had sent
the following news by phonogram :

" All the cardinals and prelates of the council were
assembled in solemn fete under the dome of St. Peter. In
this grandest temple of Christendom, splendidly illumina-
ted at the solemn hour of midnight, amid the pious invo-

OMEGA. 770

cations of the chanting brotherhoods, the altars smoking
with the perfumed incense, and the organs filling the
recesses of the immense church with their tones of thun-
der, the Pope, seated upon his throne, saw prostrate at his
feet his faithful people from every quarter of the world ;
but as he rose to pronounce the final benediction a mass of
iron, half as large as the city itself, falling from the sky
with the rapidity of lightning, crushed the assembled
multitudes, precipitating them into an abyss of unknown
depth, a veritable pit of hell. All Italy was shaken, and
the roar of the thunder was heard at Marseilles."

The bolide had been seen in every city throughout
Italy, through the showers of meteorites and the burning at-
mosphere. It had illumined the earth like a new sun with a
brilliant red light, and a terrible rending had followed its
fall, as if the sky had really been split from top to bottom.
(This was the bolide which the young calculator of the ob-
servatory of Paris had observed when, in spite of her zeal,
the suffocating fumes had driven her from the terrace.)

Seated at his telephone, our speculator received his
despatches and gave his orders, dictating sensational news
to his journal, which was printed simultaneously in all
the principal cities of the world. A quarter of an hour
later these despatches appeared on the first page of the
xxvth Century, in New York, St. Petersburg and Mel-
bourne, as also in the capitals nearer Paris ; an hour after
the first edition a second was announced.

i8o OMEGA.

"Paris inflames! The cities of Europe destroyed! Rome
in ashes ! Here's your XXVth Century, second edition ! "

And in this new edition there was a very closely written
article, from the pen of an accomplished correspondent,
dealing with the consequences of the destruction of the
sacred college.

" Twenty-fifth Century, fourth edition ! New volcano
in Italy ! Revolution in Naples ! Paper, sir f "

The second had been followed by the fourth edition
without any regard to a third. It told how a bolide,
weighing ten thousand tons, or perhaps more, had fallen
with the velocity above stated upon the solfatara of Poz-
zuoli, penetrating and breaking in the light and hollow
crust of the ancient crater. The flames below had burst
forth in a new volcano, which, with Vesuvius, illuminated
the Blysian fields.

" Twenty-fifth Century, sixth edition ! New island in
the Mediterranean! Conquests of England 7"

A fragment of the head of the comet had fallen into the
Mediterranean to the west of Rome, forming an irregular
island, fifteen hundred meters in length by seven hundred
in width, with an altitude of about two hundred meters.
The sea had boiled about it, and huge tidal waves had
swept the shores. But there happened to be an English-
man nearby, whose first thought was to land in a creek of
the newly formed island, and scaling a rock, to plant the
British flag upon its highest peak.

OMEGA. 181

Millions of copies of the journal of the famous specula-
tor were distributed broadcast over the world during this
night of July i4th, with accounts of the disaster, dictated
by telephone from the office of its director, who had taken
measures to monopolize every item of news. Everywhere
these editions were eagerly read, even before the necessary
precautions were taken to extinguish the conflagrations
still raging. From the outset, the rain had afforded unex-
pected succor, yet the material losses were immense, not-
withstanding the prevailing use of iron in building con-
struction.

" Twenty-fifth Century, tenth edition ! Great miracle
at Rome ! "

What miracle, it was easy enough to explain. In this
latest edition, the xxvth Century announced that its cor-
respondent at Rome had given circulation to a rumor
which proved to be without foundation ; that the bolide
had not destroyed Rome at all, but had fallen quite a dis-
tance outside the city. St. Peter and the Vatican had
been miraculously preserved. But hundreds of millions of
copies were sold in every country of the world. It was an
excellent stroke of business.

The crisis had passed. Little by little, men recovered
their self-possession, rejoicing in the mere fact of living.

Throughout the night, the sky overhead was illumi-
nated by the lurid light of the comet, and by the meteor-
ites which still fell in showers, kindled on every side new

OMEGA

THE COUNCIL ASSEMBLED UNDER THE DOME OF ST. PETER'S.

OMEGA. 183

conflagrations. When day came, about half past three in
the morning, more than three hours had passed since the
head of the comet had collided with the earth ; the
nucleus had passed in a southwesterly direction, and the
earth was still entirely buried in the tail. The shock had
taken place at eighteen minutes after midnight ; that is to
say, fifty-eight minutes after midnight, Paris time, exactly
as predicted by the president of the Astronomical society
of France, whose statement our readers may remember.
Although, at the instant of collision, the greater part of
the hemisphere on the side of the comet had been effected
by the constricting dryness, the suffocating heat and the
poisonous sulphurous odors, as well as by deadening
stupor, due to the resistance encountered by the comet
in traversing the atmosphere, the supersaturation of the
ozone with electricity, and the mixture of nitrogen pro-
toxide with the upper air, the other hemisphere had expe-
rienced no other disturbance than that which followed
inevitably from the destroyed atmospheric equilibrium.
Fortunately, the comet had only skimmed the earth, and
the shock had not been central. Doubtless, also, the
attraction of the earth had had much to do with the fall
of the bolides in Italy and the Mediterranean. At all
events, the orbit of the comet had been entirely altered by
this perturbation, while the earth and the moon continued
tranquilly on their way about the sun, as if nothing had
happened. The orbit of the comet had been changed by

184 OMEGA.

the earth's attraction from a parabola to an ellipse, its
aphelion being situated near the ecliptic. When later
statistics of the comet's victims were obtained, it was
found that the number of the dead was one-fortieth of the
population of Europe. In Paris alone, which extended
over a part of the departments formerly known as the
Seine and Seine-et-Oise, and which contained nine million
inhabitants, there was more than two hundred thousand
deaths.

Prior to the fatal week, the mortality had increased
threefold, and on the loth fourfold. This rate of increase
had been arrested by the confidence produced by the ses-
sions of the Institute, and had even diminished sensibly
during Wednesday. Unfortunately, as the threatening
star drew near, the panic had resumed its sway. On the
following Thursday the normal mortality rate had in-
creased fivefold, and those of weak constitution had suc-
cumbed. On Friday, the I3th, the day before the dis-
aster, owing to privations of every kind, the absence of
food and sleep, the heat and feverish condition which it
induced, the effect of the excitement upon the heart and
brain, the mortality at Paris had reached the hitherto
unheard of figure of ten thousand ! On the eventful night
of the 1 4th, owing to the crowded condition of the cellars,
the vitiation of the atmosphere by the carbonic-oxide gas,
and suffocation due to the drying up of the lining mem-
brane of the throat, pulmonary congestion, anaesthesia,

OMEGA. iB 5

and arrest of the circulation, the victims were more num-
erous than those of the battles of former times, the total
for that day reaching the enormous sum of more than one
hundred thousand. Some of those mortally effected lived
until the following day, and a certain number survived
longer, but in a hopeless condition. Not until a week
had elapsed was the normal death-rate re-established. Dur-
ing this disastrous month 17,500 children were born at
Paris, but nearly all died. Medical statistics, subtracting
from the general total the normal mean, based upon a
death-rate of twenty for every one thousand inhabitants,
that is, 492 per day, or 15,252 for the month, which repre-
sents the number of those who would have died indepen-
dently of the comet, ascribed to the latter the difference
between these two numbers, namely, 222,633 ; of these,
more than one-half, or more than one hundred thousand,
died of fear, by syncope, aneurisms or cerebral congestions.

But this cataclysm did not bring about the end of the
world. The losses were made good by an apparent in-
crease in human vitality, such as had been observed for-
merly after destructive wars ; the earth continued to
revolve in the light of the sun, and humanity to advance
toward a still higher destiny.

The comet had, above all, been the pretext for the dis-
cussion of every possible phase of this great and important
subject the end of the world.

OMEGA .

GIRLS REFUSING TO MARRY.

SECOND PART,

CHAPTER I.

THE events which we have just described, and the dis-
cussions to which they gave rise, took place in the twenty-
fifth century of the Christian era. Humanity was not
destroyed by the shock of the comet, although this was
the most memorable event in its entire history, and one
never forgotten, notwithstanding the many transforma-
tions which the race has since undergone. The earth
had continued to rotate and the sun to shine ; little chil-
dren had become old men, and their places had been filled
by others in the eternal succession of generations. Cen-
turies and ages had succeeded each other, and humanity,
slowly advancing in knowledge and happiness, through
a thousand transitory interruptions, had reached its apogee
and accomplished its destiny.

But how vast these series of transformations physical
and mental !

The population of Europe, from the year 1900 to the
year 3000, had increased from 375 to 700 millions ; that

i88 OMEGA.

of Asia, from 875 to 1000 millions ; that of the Americas,
from 1 20 to 1500 millions ; that of Africa, from 75 to 200
millions ; that of Australia, from 5 to 60 millions ; which,
for the total population of the globe, gives an increase of
20 1 o millions. And this inciease had continued, with
some fluctuations.

Language had become transformed. The never-ceasing
progress of science and industry had created a large num-
ber of new words, generally of Greek derivation. At the
same time, the English language had spread over the
entire world. From the twenty-fifth to the thirtieth cen-
turies, the spoken language of Europe was based upon a
mixture of English, of French, and of Greek derivatives.
Every effort to create artificially a new universal language
had failed.

L,ong before the twenty-fifth century, war had disap-
peared, and it became difficult to conceive how a race
which pretended to knowledge and reason could have
endured so long the yoke of clever rascals who lived at its
expense. In vain had later sovereigns proclaimed, in
high-sounding words, that war was a divine institution ;
that it was the natural result of the struggle for existence ;
that it constituted the noblest of professions ; that patriot-
ism was the chief of virtues. In vain were battle-fields
called fields of honor ; in vain were the statues of the
victors erected in the most populous cities. It was, at
last, observed that, with the exception of certain ants,

OMEGA. 189

no animal species had set an example of such boundless
folly as the human race ; that the struggle for life did not
consist in slaughtering one another, but in the conquest of
nature ; that all the resources of humanity were absolutely
wasted in the bottomless gulf of standing armies ; and
that the mere obligation of military service, as formulated
by law, was an encroachment upon human liberty, so
serious that, under the guise of honor, slavery had been
re-established.

Men perceived that the military system meant the main-
tenance of an army of parasites and idlers, yielding a pas-
sive obedience to the orders of diplomats, who were sim-
ply speculating upon human credulity. In early times,
war had been carried on between villages, for the advan-
tage and glory of chieftains, and this kind of petty warfare
still prevailed in the nineteenth century, between the vil-
lages of central Africa, where even young men and women,
persuaded of their slavery, were seen,- at certain times, to
present themselves voluntarily at the places where they
were to be sacrificed. Reason having, at last, begun to
prevail, men had then formed themselves into provinces,
and a warfare between provinces arose Athens contend-
ing with Sparta, Rome with Carthage, Paris with Dijon ;
and history had celebrated the glorious wars of the Duke
of Burgundy against the king of France, of the Normans
against the Parisians, of the Belgians against the Flemish,
of the Saxons against the Bavarians, of the Venetians

igo OMEGA.

against the Florentines, etc., etc. Later, nations had been
formed, thus doing away with provincial flags and boun-
daries ; but men continued to teach their children to hate
their neighbors, and citizens were accoutred for the sole
purpose of mutual extermination. Interminable wars
arose, wars ceaselessly renewed, between France, England,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Russia, Turkey, etc. The
development of weapons of destruction had kept pace with
the progress of chemistry, mechanics, aeronautics, and
most of the other sciences, and theorists were to be found,
especially among statesmen, who declared that war was
the necessary condition of progress, forgetting that it was
only the sorry heritage of barbarism, and that the majority
of those who have contributed to the progress of science
and industry, electricity, physics, mechanics, etc., have all
been the most pacific of men. Statistics had proved that
war regularly claimed forty million victims per century,
noo per day, without truce or intermission, and had
made 1200 million corpses in three thousand years. It
was not surprising that nations had been exhausted and
ruined, since in the nineteenth century alone they had
expended, to this end, the sum of 700,000 million francs.
These divisions, appealing to patriotic sentiments skill-
fully kept alive by politicians who lived upon them, long
prevented Europe from imitating the example of America
in the suppression of its armies, which consumed all its
yital forces and wasted yearly more than ten thousand

OMEGA. 191

million francs of the resources acquired at such sacrifice
by the laborer, and from forming a United States of
Europe. But though man could not make up his mind
to do away with the tinsel of national vanity, woman came
to his rescue.

Under the inspiration of a woman of spirit, a league
was formed of the mothers of Europe, for the purpose of
educating their children, especially their daughters, to a
horror of the barbarities of war. The folly of men, the
frivolity of the pretexts which arrayed nations against
each other, the knavery of statesmen who moved heaven
and earth to excite patriotism and blind the eyes of peo-
ples ; the absolute uselessness of the wars of the past and
of that European equilibrium which was always disturbed
and never established ; the ruin of nations ; fields of battle
strewn with the dead and the mangled, who, an hour
before, lived joyously in the bountiful sun of nature ;
widows and orphans in short, all the misery of war was
forced upon the mind, by conversation, recital and reading.
In a single generation, this rational education had freed
the young from this remnant of animalism, and inculcated
a sentiment of profound horror for all which recalled the
barbarism of other days. Still, governments refused to
disarm, and the war budget was voted from year to year.
It was then that the young girls resolved never to marry a
man who had borne arms ; and they kept their vow.

The early years of this league were trying ones, even

192 OMEGA.

for the young girls : for the choice of more than one fell
upon some fine-looking officer, and, but for the universal
reprobation, her heart might have yielded. There were, it
is true, some desertions ; but, as those who formed these
marriages were, from the outset, despised and ostracized
by society, they were not numerous. Public opinion was
formed, and it was impossible to stem the tide.

For about five years there was scarcely a single marriage
or union. Every citizen was a soldier, in France, in Ger-
many, in Italy, in Spain, in every nation of Europe all
ready for a confederation of States, but never recoiling
before questions represented by the national flag. The
women held their ground ; they felt that truth was 011
their side, but their firmness would deliver humanity from
the slavery which oppressed it, and that they could not
fail of victory. To the passionate objurgations of certain
men, they replied : " No ; we will have nothing more to
do with fools ; " and, if this state of affairs continued, they
had decided to keep their vow, or to emigrate to America,
where, centuries before, the military system had disap-
peared.

The most eloquent appeals for disarmament were made
at every session to the committee of administrators of the
state, formerly called deputies or senators. Finally, after
a lapse of five years, face to face with this wall of feminine
opposition, which, day by day, grew stronger and more
impregnable, the deputies of every country, as if animated

OMEGA.

193

194 OMEGA.

by a common motive, eloquently advocated the cause of
women, and that very week disarmament was voted in
Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Spain.

It was spring-time. There was no disorder. Innumer-
able marriages followed. Russia and England had held
aloof from the movement, the suffrage of women in these
countries not having been unanimous. But as all the
states of Europe were formed into a republic the ensuing
year, uniting in a single confederated state, on the invita-
tion of the government of the United States of Europe,
these two great nations also decreed a gradual disarma-
ment. Long before this time, India had been lost to Eng-
land, and the latter had become a reptiblic. As for Russia,
the monarchical form of government still existed. It was
then the middle of the twenty-fourth century, and from
that epoch the narrow sentiment of patriotism was re-
placed by the general one of humanity.

Delivery from the ball and chain of military slavery,
Europe had immediately gotten rid of the bureaucracy
which had also exhausted nations, condemned to perish,
as it were, by plethora. But for this a radical revolution
was necessary. From that time on, Europe had advanced
as by magic in a marvellous progress social, scientific,
artistic and industrial. Taxation, diminished by nine-
tenths, served only for the maintenance of internal order,
the security of life and property, the support of schools,
and the encouragement of new researches. But individual

OMEGA. 295

initiative was far more effective than the old-time official
centralization which for so many years had stifled individ-
ual effort, and bureaucracy was dead and buried.

At last one breathed freely, one lived. In order to pay
700,000 millions every century to citizens withdrawn
from all productive work, and to maintain the bureau-
cracy, governments had been obliged to increase taxa-
tion to a fearful degree. The result was that everything
was taxed ; the air one breathes, the water one drinks,
the light and heat of the sun, bread, wine and every arti-
cle of food, clothing, houses, the streets of cities, the coun-
try roads, animals, horses, oxen, dogs, cats, hens, rabbits,
birds in cages, plants, flowers, musical instruments, pianos,
organs, violins, zithers, flutes, trumpets, trades and pro-
fessions, the married and the unmarried, children, furni-
ture everything, absolutely everything; and this taxa-
tion had grown until it equalled the net product of all
human labor, with the single exception of the "daily
bread." Then, all work had ceased. It seemed thence-
forth impossible to live. It was this state of affairs which
led to the great social revolution of the international
socialists, of which mention was made at the beginning
of this book, and to others which followed it. But these
upheavals had not definitely liberated Europe from the
barbarism of by-gone days, and it was to the young
women's league that humanity owes its deliverance.

The unification of nations, of ideas, of languages, had

O ME G A .

MADE PREFERABLY BY AIR-SHIPS.

brought about also that of weights and measures. No
nation had resisted the universal adoption of the metric
system, based upon the dimensions of the planet itself. A
single kind of money was in circulation. One initial
meridian ruled in geography. This meridian passed
through the observatory of Greenwich, and at its antipode
the day changed its name at noon.

Nations which we call modern had vanished like those of
the past. France had disappeared in the twenty-eighth cen-
tury, after an existence of about two thousand years. Ger-
many disappeared in the thirty-second ; Italy in the twenty-
ninth ; England had spread over the surface of the ocean,

OMEGA. 197

Meteorology had attained the precision of astronomy,
and about the thirtieth century the weather could be pre-
dicted without error.

The forests, sacrificed to agriculture and the manufac-
ture of paper, had entirely disappeared.

The legal rate o.f interest had fallen to one-half of one
per cent.

Electricity had taken the place of steam. Railroads
and pneumatic tubes were still in use, but only for the
transportation of freight. Voyages were made preferably
by dirigible balloons, aeroplanes and air-ships, especially
in the daytime.

This very fact of aerial navigation would have done
away with frontiers if the progress of reason had not
already abolished them. Constant intercourse between all
parts of the globe had brought about internationalism, and
the absolutely free exchange of goods and ideas. Custom-
houses had been suppressed.

The telephonoscope disseminated immediately the most
important and interesting news. A comedy played at
Chicago or Paris could be heard and seen in every city of
the world.

Astronomy had attained its end : the knowledge of the
life of other worlds and the establishment of communica-
tion with them. All philosophy, all religion, was founded
upon the progress of astronomy.

Marvellous instruments in optics and physics had been

ig8 OMEGA.

invented. A new substance took the place of glass, and
had yielded the most unexpected results to science. New
natural forces had been conquered.

Social progress had been no less great than that of sci-
ence. Machines driven by electricity had gradually taken
the place of manual labor. At the same time the produc-
tion of food had become entirely revolutionized. Chemi-
cal synthesis had succeeded in producing sugar, albumen,
the amides and fats, from the air, water and vegetables, and,
by skillfully varying the proportions, in forming the most
advantageous combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen
and nitrogen, so that sumptuous repasts no longer consisted
of the smoking remains of slaughtered animals beef, veal,
lamb, pork, chicken, fish and birds, but were served
amid the harmonies of music in rooms adorned with
plants ever green and flowers ever in bloom, in an atmos-
phere laden with perfumes. Freed from the vulgar neces-
sity of masticating meats, the mouth absorbed the princi-
ples necessary for the repair of organic tissues in exquisite
drinks, fruits, cakes and pills.

About the thirtieth century, especially, the nervous
system began to grow more delicate, and developed in
unexpected ways. Woman was still somewhat more nar-
row-minded than man, and her mental operations differed
from his as before (her exquisite sensibility responding to
sentimental considerations before reason could act in the
lower cells), and her head had remained smaller, her fore-

OMEGA. 799

head narrower ; but the former was so elegantly placed
upon a neck of such supple grace, and rose so nobly from
the shoulders and the bust, that it compelled more than
ever the admiration of man, not only as a whole, but also
by the penetrating sweetness and beauty of the mouth and
the light curls of its luxuriant hair. Although compara-
tively smaller than that of man, the head of woman had
nevertheless increased in size with the exercise of the
intellectual faculties ; but the cerebral circonvolutions had
experienced the most change, having become more numer-
ous and more pronounced in both sexes. In short, the
head had grown, the body had diminished in size. Giants
were no longer to be seen.

Four permanent causes had modified insensibly the
human form ; the development of the intellectual faculties
and of the brain, the decrease in manual labor and bodily
exercise, the transformation of food, and the marriage sys-
tem. The first had increased the size of the cranium as
compared with the rest of the body ; the second had de-
creased the strength of the limbs ; the third had dimin-
ished the size of the abdomen and made the teeth finer
and smaller ; the tendency of the fourth had been rather
to perpetuate the classic forms of human beauty : mascu-
line beauty, the nobility of an uplifted countenance, and
the graceful outlines of womanhood. About the two hun-
dredth century of our era, a single race existed, rather
small in stature, light colored, in which anthropologists

^oo OMEGA.

might, perhaps, have discovered some form of Anglo-
Saxon and Chinese descent.

Humanity had tended towards unity, one race, one lan-
guage, one general government, one religion. There were
no more state religions ; only the voice of an enlightened
conscience, and in this unity former anthropological differ-
ences had disappeared.

In former ages poets had prophesied that in the mar-
vellous progress of things man would finally acquire wings,
and fly through the air by his muscular force alone ; but
they had not studied the origin of anthropomorphic struc-
ture and had forgotten that for a man to have at the same
time arms and wings, he must belong to a zoological order
of sextupeds which does not exist on our planet ; for man
belongs to the quadrupeds, a type which has been grad-
ually modified. But though he had not acquired new
natural organs, he had acquired artificial ones, to say
nothing of his physical transformation. He had con-
quered the region of the air and could soar in the sky by
light apparatus, whose motor power was electricity, and
the atmosphere had become his domain as it had been that
of the birds. It is very probable that if in the course of
ages a winged race could have acquired, by the develop-
ment of its faculties of observation, a brain analogous to
that of even the most primitive man, it would have soon
dominated the human species and replaced it by a new
one, a winged race of the same zoological type as the

OMEGA .

201

quadrupeds and bipeds. But the force of gravity is an
obstacle to any such organic development of the winged
species, and humanity, grown more perfect, had remained
master of the world.

At the same time, in the lapse of ages, the animal popu-
lation of the globe had completely changed. The wild
species, lions, tigers, hyenas, panthers, elephants, giraffes,
kangaroos, as also whales and seals, had become extinct.

CHAPTER II.

ABOUT the one hundredth
century of the Christian era all
resemblance between the hu-
man race and monkeys had
disappeared.

The nervous sensibility of
man had become intensified to
a marvellous degree. The
sense of sight, of hearing, of
smell, of touch, and of taste,
had gradually acquired a deli-
cacy far exceeding that of their
earlier and grosser manifesta-
tions. Through the study of the electrical properties
of living organisms, a seventh sense, the electric sense,
was created outright, so to speak ; and everyone possessed
the power of attracting and repelling both living and inert
matter, to a degree depending upon the temperament of
the individual. But by far the most important of all the
senses, the one which played the greatest role in men's
relation to each other, was the eighth, the psychic sense,
by which communication at a distance became possible.

OMEGA. 203

A glimpse has been had of two other senses also, but
their development had been arrested from the very outset.
The first had to do with the visibility of the ultra violet
rays, so sensitive to chemical tests, but wholly invisible
to the human eye. Experiments made in this direction has
resulted in the acquisition of no new power, and had con-
siderably impaired those previously enjoyed. The second
was the sense of orientation ; but every effort made to
develop it had proved a failure, notwithstanding the
attempt to make use of the results of researches in terres-
trial magnetism.

For some time past, the offspring of the once titled and
aristocratic classes of society had formed a sickly and
feeble race, and the governing body was recruited from
among the more virile members of the lower class, who,
however, were in their turn soon enervated by a worldly
life. Subsequently, marriages were regulated on estab-
lished principles of selection and heredity.

The development of man's intellectual faculties, and the
cultivation of psychical science, had wrought great changes
in humanity. Latent faculties of the soul had been dis-
covered, faculties which had remained dormant for per-
haps a million years, during the earlier reign of the grosser
instincts, and, in proportion as food based upon chemical
principles was substituted for the coarse nourishment
which had prevailed for so long a time, these faculties
came to light and underwent a brilliant development. As

204

OMEGA .

a mental operation, thought became a different thing from
what it now is. Mind acted readily upon mind at a dis-
tance, by virtue of a transcendental magnetism, of which
even children knew how to avail themselves.

The first interastral com-
munication was with the
planet Mars, and the sec-
ond with Venus, the latter
being maintained to the
end of the world ; the

EVEN CHILDREN KNEW HOW TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF IT.'

OMEGA. 205

former was interrupted by the death of the inhabitants
of Mars ; whereas intercourse with Jupiter was only just
beginning as the human race neared its own end. A
rigid application of the principles of selection in the
formation of marriages had resulted in a really new race,
resembling ours in organic form, but possessing wholly
different intellectual powers. For the once barbarous and
often blind methods of medicine, and even of surgery, had
been substituted by those derived from a knowledge of
hypnotic, magnetic and psychic forces, and telepathy had
become a great and fruitful science.

Simultaneously with man the planet also had been trans-
formed. Industry had produced mighty but ephemeral
results. In the twenty-fifth century, whose events we
have just described, Paris had been for a long time a sea-
port, and electric ships from the Atlantic, and from the
Pacific by the Isthmus of Panama, arrived at the quays of
the abbey of Saint Denis, beyond which the great capital
extended far to the north. The passage from the abbey
of Saint Denis to the port of London was made in a few
hours, and many travellers availed themselves of this
route, in preference to the regular air route, the tunnel,
and the viaduct over the channel. Outside of Paris the
same activity reigned ; for, in the twenty-fifth century
also, the canal uniting the Mediterranean with the Atlan-
tic had been completed, and the long detour by way of
the Straits of Gibraltar had been abandoned ; and on the

206 OMEGA.

other hand a metallic tube, for carriages driven by com-
pressed air, united the Iberian republic, formerly Spain
and Portugal, with western Algeria, formerly Morocco.
Paris and Chicago then had nine million inhabitants, Lon-
don, ten ; New York, twelve. Paris, continuing its growth
toward the west from century to century, now extended
from the confluence of the Marne beyond St. Germain.
All great cities had grown at the expense of the country.
Agricultural products were manufactured by electricity ;
hydrogen was extracted from sea-water ; the energy of
waterfalls and tides were utilized for lighting purposes at
a distance ; the solar rays, stored in summer, were distrib-
uted in winter, and the seasons had almost disappeared,
especially since the introduction of heat wells, which
brought to the surface of the soil the seemingly inexhaust-
ible heat of the earth's interior.

But what is the twenty-fifth century in comparison with
the thirtieth, the fortieth, the hundredth !

Everyone knows the legend of the Arab of Kazwani,
as related by a traveller of the thirteenth century, who at
that time, moreover, had no idea of the duration of the
epochs of nature. " Passing one day," he said, " by a very
ancient and very populous city, I asked one of its inhabi-
tants how long a time it had been founded. ( Truly,' he
replied, 4 it is a powerful city, but we do not know how
long it has existed, and our ancestors are as ignorant upon
this subject as we.'

OMEGA.

207

THE CHINESE CAPITOL.

" Five centuries later I passed by the same spot, and
could perceive no trace of the city. I asked a peasant
who was gathering herbs on its former site, how long it had
been destroyed. * Of a truth,' he replied, * that is a strange
question. This field has always been what it now is.'
* But was there not formerly a splendid city here ? ' I
asked. 4 Never,' he answered, ' at least so far as we can
judge from what we have seen, and our fathers have never
told us of any such thing.'

" On my return five hundred years later to the same
place I found it occupied by the sea ; on the shore stood a
group of fishermen, of whom I asked at what period the
land had been covered by the ocean. ( Is that question
worthy of a man like you ? ' they replied ; ' this spot has
always been such as you see it today.'

208 OMEGA.

" At the end of five hundred years I returned again, and
the sea had disappeared. I inquired of a solitary man
whom I encountered, when this change had taken place ;
and he gave me the same reply.

" Finally, after an equal lapse of time, I returned once
more, to find a flourishing city, more populous and richer
in monuments than that which I had at first visited ; and
when I sought information as to its origin, its inhabitants
replied : ' The date of its foundation is lost in antiquity.
We do not know how long it has existed, and our fathers
knew no more of this than we do.' "

How this fable illustrates the brevity of human mem-
ory and the. narrowness of our horizons in time as well
as in space ! We think that the earth has always been
what it now is ; we conceive with difficulty of the secu-
lar changes through which it has passed ; the vastness
of these periods overwhelms us, as in astronomy we are
overwhelmed by the vast distances of space.

The time had come when Paris had ceased to be the
capital of the world.

After the fusion of the United States of Europe into a
single confederation, the Russian republic from St. Peters-
burg to Constantinople had formed a sort of barrier against
the invasion of the Chinese, who had already established
populous cities on the shores of the Caspian sea. The
nations of the past having disappeared before the march of
progress, and the nationalities of France, England, Ger-

OMEGA. 209

many, Italy and Spain having for the same reason passed
away, communication between the east and west, between
Europe and America, had become more and more easy ;
and the sea being no longer an obstacle to the march of
humanity, free now as the sun, the new territory of the
vast continent of America had been preferred by industrial
enterprise to the exhausted lands of western Europe, and
already in the twenty-fifth century the center of Civiliza-
tion was located on the shores of Lake Michigan in a new
Athens of nine million inhabitants, rivalling Paris. There-
after the elegant French capital had followed the example
of its predecessors, Rome, Athens, Memphis, Thebes, Nine-
veh and Babylon. The wealth, the resources of every
kind, the great attractions, were elsewhere.

In Spain, Italy and France, gradually abandoned by
their inhabitants, solitude spread slowly over the ruins of
former cities. Lisbon had disappeared, destroyed by the
sea ; Madrid, Rome, Naples and Florence were in ruins.
A little later, Paris, Lyons and Marseilles were overtaken
by the same fate.

Human types and languages had undergone such
transformations that it would have been impossible
for an ethnologist or a linguist to discover anything
belonging to the past. For a long time neither Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian, French, English nor German had
been spoken. Europe had migrated beyond the Atlantic,

and Asia had invaded Europe. The Chinese to the num-

210 OMEGA.

her of a thousand million had spread over western Europe.
Mingling with the Anglo-Saxon race, they formed in some
measure a new one. Their principal capital stretched like
an endless street along each side of the canal from Bor-
deaux to Toulouse and Narbonne.

The causes which led to the foundation of Lutetia
on an island in the Seine, which had raised this city
of the* Parisians to the zenith of its power in the
twenty -fourth century, were no longer operative, and
Paris had disappeared simultaneously with the causes
to which it owed its origin and splendor. Commerce
had taken possession of the Mediterranean and the great
oceanic highways, and the Iberian canal had become
the emporium of the world.

The littoral of the south and west of ancient France
had been protected by dikes against the invasion of the
sea, but, owing to the increase of population in the south
and southwest, the north and northwest had been neg-
lected, and the slow and continual subsidence of this
region, observed ever since the time of Caesar, had reduced
its level below that of the sea ; and as the channel was
ever widening, and the cliffs between Cape Helder and
Havre were being worn away by the action of the sea,
the Dutch dikes had been abandoned to the ocean, which
had invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern
France, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Ver-
sailles, lyille, Amiens and Rouen had sunk below the

OMEGA .

THE RUINS OF PARIS.

212 OMEGA.

water, and ships floated above their sea-covered ruins.

Paris itself, finally abandoned in the sixtieth century,
when the sea had surrounded it as it now does Havre, was,
in the eighty-fifth century, covered with water to the
height of the towers of Notre Dame, and all that memor-
able plain, where were wrought out, during so many
years, the most brilliant of the world's civilizations, was
swept by angry waves.*

As in the case of languages, ideas, customs and laws, so,
also, the manner of reckoning time had changed. It was
still reckoned by years and centuries, but the Christian era
had been discarded, as also the holy days of the calendar
and the eras of the Mussulman, Jewish, Chinese and
African chronologies. There was now a single calendar
for the entire race, composed of twelve months, divided
into four equal trimesters of three months of thirty-one,
thirty, and thirty days, each trimester containing exactly
thirteen weeks. New Year's Day was a fete day, and was
not reckoned in with the year ; every bisextile year there

* In the nineteenth century, researches in natural history had revealed the fact
that secular vertical oscillations, vary with the locality, were taking place in the earth's
crust, and had proved that, from prehistoric times, the soil of western and southern
France had been slowly sinking and the sea slowly gaining upon the land. One after
another, the islands of Jersey, of Minquiers, of Chaussey, of F,crehou, of Cezembre, of
Mont-Saint-Michel, had been detached from the cpntinent by the sea ; the cities of Is,
Helion, Tommeu, Portzmeur, Harbour, Saint Louis, Monny, Bourgneuf, La Feillette,
Paluel and Nazado had been buried beneath its waves, and the Armorican peninsula
had slowly retreated before the advancing waters. The hour of this invasion by the sea
had struck, from century to century, also for Herbavilla ; to the west of Nantes ; for
Saint-Denis-Chef-de-Caux, to the north of Havre ; for Saint-Etienne-de-Paluel and lor
Gardoine, to the north of Dol ; for Tolente, to the west of Brest ; more than eighty
habitable cities of Holland had been submerged in the eleventh century, etc etc. In
other regions the reverse had taken place, and the sea had retired ; but to the north
and west of Paris this double action of the subsidence of the land and the wearing away
of the shores had, in less than seven thousand years, made Paris accessible to ships of
the greatest tonnage.

OMEGA. 213

were two. The week had been retained. Every year
commenced on the same day Monday ; and the same
dates always corresponded to the same days of the week.
The year began with the vernal equinox all over the
world. The era, a purely astronomical division of time,
began with the coincidence of the December solstice with
perihelion, and was renewed every 25,765 years. This
rational method had succeeded the fantastic divisions of
time formerly in use.

The geographical features of France, of Europe and of
the entire world had become modified, from century to
century. Seas had replaced continents, and new deposits
at the bottom of the ocean covered the vanished ages,
forming new geological strata. Elsewhere, continents had
taken the place of seas. At the mouth of the Rhone,
for example, where the dry land had already encroached
upon the sea from Aries to the littoral, the continent
gained to the south ; in Italy, the deposits of the Po had
continued to gain upon the Adriatic, as those of the Nile,
the Tiber, and other rivers of later origin, had gained upon
the Mediterranean ; and in other places the dunes had in-
creased, by various amounts, the domain of the dry land.
The contours of seas and continents had so changed that
it would have been absolutely impossible to make out the
ancient geographical maps of history.

The historian of nature does not deal with periods of
five centuries, like the Arab of the thirteenth century men-

214 OMEGA.

tioned in the legend related a moment ago. Ten times this
period would scarcely suffice to modify, sensibly, the con-
figuration of the land, for five thousand years are but a
ripple on the ocean of time. It is by tens of thousands of
years that one must reckon if one would see continents
sink -below the level of seas, and new territories emerging
into the sunlight, as the result of the secular changes in
the level of the earth's crust, whose thickness and density
varies from place to place, and whose weight, resting upon
the still plastic and mobile interior, causes vast areas to
oscillate. A slight disturbance of the equilibrium, an in-
significant dip of the scales, a change of less than a hun-
dred meters, often, in the length of the earth's diameter
of twelve thousand kilometers, is sufficient to transform
the surface of the world.

And if we examine the ensemble of the history of the
earth, by periods of one hundred thousand years, for exam-
ple, we see, that in ten of these great epochs, that is, in a
million years, the surface of the globe has been many
times transformed.

If we advance into the future a period of one or two
million years, we witness a vast flux and reflux of life and
things. How many times in this period of ten or twenty
thousand centuries, how many times have the waves of the
sea covered the former dwelling-places of man ! How
many times the earth has emerged anew, fresh and regen-
erated, from the abysses of the ocean ! In primitive times,

OMEGA. 215

when the still warm and liquid planet was covered only
by a thin shell, cooling on the surface of the burning
ocean within, these changes took place brusquely, by sud-
den breaking down of natural barriers, earthquakes, vol-
canic eruptions, and the uprising of mountain ranges.
Later, as this superficial crust grew thicker and became
consolidated, these transformations were more gradual ;
the slow contraction of the earth had led to the formation
of hollow spaces within the solid envelope, to the falling
in of portions of this envelope upon the liquid nucleus,
and finally to oscillating movements which had changed
the profile of the continents. Later still, insensible modi-
fications had been produced by external agents ; on the
one hand the rivers, constantly carrying to their mouths
the debris of the mountains, had filled up the depths of
the sea and slowly increased the area of the dry land, mak-
ing in time inland cities of ancient seaports ; and on the
other hand, the action of the waves and of storms, con-
stantly eating away the shores, had increased the area of
the ocean at the expense of the dry land. Ceaselessly the
geographical configuration of the shore had changed. For
the historian our planet had become another world. Every-
thing had changed : continents, seas, shores, races, lan-
guages, customs, body and mind, sentiments, ideas every-
thing. France beneath the waves, the bottom of the At-
lantic in the light of the sun, a portion of the United
States gone, a continent in the place of Oceanica, China

2l6

OMEGA.

submerged ; death where was life, and life where was
death ; and everywhere sunk into eternal oblivion all
which had once constituted the glory and greatness of
nations. If today one of us should emigrate to Mars, he
would find himself more at home than if, after the lapse
of these future ages, he should return to the earth.

CHAPTER III.

WHILE these great changes in the planets were taking
place, humanity had continued to advance ; for progress is
the supreme law. Terrestrial life, which began with the
rudimentary protozoans, without mouths, blind, deaf, mute
and almost wholly destitute of sensation, had acquired
successively the marvellous organs of sense, and had finally
reached its climax in man, who, having also grown more
perfect with the lapse of centuries, had risen from his
primitive savage condition as the slave of nature to the
position of a sovereign who ruled the world by mind, and
who had made it a paradise of happiness, of pure contem-
plation, of knowledge and of pleasure.

Men had attained that degree of intelligence which
enabled them to live wisely and tranquilly. After a gen-
eral disarmament had been brought about, so rapid an in-
crease in public riches and so great an amelioration in the
well-being of every citizen was observed, that the efforts
of intelligence and labor, no longer wasted by this intel-
lectual suicide, had been directed to the conquest of new

forces of nature and the constant improvement of civili-

217

2i8 OMEGA.

zation. The human body had become insensibly trans-
formed, or more exactly, transfigured.

Nearly all men were intelligent. They remembered
with a smile the childish ambitions of their ancestors
whose aspiration was to be someone rather than someMz-,
and who had struggled so feverishly for outward show.
They had learned that happiness resides in the soul, that
contentment is found only in study, that love is the sun of
the heart, that life is short and ought not to be lived super-
ficially ; and thus all were happy in the possession of
liberty of conscience, and careless of those things which
one cannot carry away.

Woman had acquired a perfect beauty. Her form had
lost the fullness of the Greek model and had become more
slender ; her skin was of a translucent whiteness ; her eyes
were illuminated by the light of dreams ; her long and
silky hair, in whose deep chestnut were blended all the
ruddy tints of the setting sun, fell in waves of rippling
light ; the heavy animal jaw had become idealized, the
mouth had grown smaller, and in the presence of its sweet
smile, at the sight of its dazzling pearls between the soft
rose of the lips, one could not understand how lovers could
have pressed such fervent kisses upon the lips of women
of earlier times, specimens of whose teeth, resembling
those of animals, had been preserved in the museums of
ethnography. It really seemed as if a new race had come
into existence, infinitely superior to that to which Aris-

OMEGA. 219

totle, Kepler, Victor Hugo, Phryne, or Diana of Poictiers '
had belonged.

Thanks to the progress in physiology , hygiene, and anti-
septic science, as well as to the general well-being and
intelligence of the race the duration of human life had
been greatly prolonged, and it was not unusual to see per-
sons who had attained the age of 150 years. Death had
not been conquered, but the secret of living without grow-
ing old had been found, and the characteristics of youth
were retained beyond the age of one hundred.

But one fatherland existed on the planet, which, like a
chorus heard above the chords of some vast harmony,
inarched onward to its high destiny, shining in the splen-
dor of intellectual supremacy.

The internal heat of the globe, the light and warmth of
the sun, terrestrial magnetism, atmospheric electricity,
inter-planetary attraction, the psychic forces of the human
soul, the unknown forces which preside over destinies,
all these science had conquered and controlled for the
benefit of mankind. The only limits to its conquests were
the limitations of the human faculties themselves, which,
indeed, are feeble, especially when we compare them with
those of certain extra-terrestrial beings.

All the results of this vast progress, so slowly and grad-
ually acquired by the toil of centuries, must, in obedience
to a law, mysterious and inconceivable for the petty race
of man, reach at last their apogee, when further advance

220

OMEGA .

becomes impossible. The geometric curve which repre-
sents this progress of the race, falls as it rises : starting
from zero, from the primitive nebulous cosmos, ascending
through the ages of planetary and human history to its
lofty summit, to descend thereafter into a night that
knows no morrow.

Yes ! all this progress, all this knowledge, all this hap-
piness and glory, must one day be swallowed up in obliv-
ion, and the voice of history itself be forever silenced.

Life had a be- _____^_ ginning: it

must have an end. The sun

of human | hopes had ris-

en, had ascend-
to its meridi-
to set and to
endless night,
then all this
struggling, all
quests, all
if light and
to an end?
apostles, in
have poured
on the earth,
in its turn to
Everything
decay, and

THE VILLAGE CEMETERY.

ed victoriously
an, it was now
disappear in
To what end
glory, all this
these coii-
these vanities,
life must come
Martyrs and
every cause,
out blood up-
destined also
perish.

is doomed to
death must re-

OMEG'A. 221

main the final sovereign of the world. Have you ever
thought, in viewing a village cemetery, how small it is, to
contain the generations buried there from time immemor-
able ? Man existed before the last glacial epoch, which
dates back 200,000 years; and the age of man extends over
a period of more than 250,000 years. Written history
dates from yesterday. Cut and polished flints have been
found at Paris, proving the presence of man on the banks
of the Seine long before the first historic record of the
Gauls. The Parisians of the close of the nineteenth cen-
tury walk upon ground consecrated by more than ten
thousand years of ancestry. What remains of all who
have swarmed in this forum of the world ? What is left
of the Romans, the Greeks, and the Asiatics, whose em-
pires lasted for centuries ? What remains of the millions
who have existed ? Not even a handful of ashes.

A human being dies every second, or about 86,000 a
day, and an equal number, or to speak more exactly, a
little more than 86,000 are born daily. This figure, true
for the nineteenth century, applies to a long period, if we
increase it proportionately to the time. The population
of the globe has increased from epoch to epoch. In the
time of Alexander there were perhaps a thousand million
living beings on the surface of the earth. At the end of
the nineteenth century fifteen hundred million ; in the
twenty-second century two thousand million ; in the
twenty-ninth three thousand million ; at its maximum

222 OMEGA.

the population of the globe had reached one hundred
thousand million. Then it had begun to decrease.

Of the innumerable human bodies which have lived, not
one remains. All have been resolved into their elements,
which have again formed new individuals.

All that fills the passing day labor, pleasure, grief and
happiness vanishes with it into oblivion. Time flies, and
the past exists no longer ; what has been, has disappeared
in the gulf of eternity. The visible world is vanishing
every instant. Only the invisible is real and enduring.

During the ten million years of history, the human
race, surviving generation after generation, as if it were a
real thing, had been greatly modified from both a physical
and moral point of view. It had always remained master
of the world, and no new race had aspired to its sover-
eignty ; for races do not come down from heaven or rise
from hell ; no Minerva is born full-armed, no Venus awakes
full-grown in a shell of pearl on the seashore ; everything
grows, and the human race, with its long line of ancestry,
was from the very beginning the natural result of the vital
evolution of the planet. Under the law of progress, it had
emerged from the limbo of animalism, and by the contin-
ued action of this same law of progress it had become grad-
ually perfected, modified and refined.

But the time had come when the conditions of terrestrial
life began to fail ; when humanity, instead of advancing,
was itself to enter upon its downward path.

OMEGA. 223

The internal heat of the globe, still considerable in the
nineteenth century, although it had ceased to have any
effect upon surface temperature, which was maintained
solely by the sun, had slowly diminished, and the earth
had, at last, become entirely cold. This had not directly
influenced the physical conditions of terrestrial life, which
continued to depend upon the atmosphere and solar heat.
The cooling of the earth cannot bring about the end of
the world.

Imperceptibly, from century to century, the earth's sur-
face had become levelled. The action of the rain, snow,
frost and solar heat upon the mountains, the waters of tor-
rents, rivulets and rivers, had slowly carried to the sea the
debris of every continental elevation. The bottom of the
sea had risen, and in nine million years the mountains had
almost entirely disappeared. Meanwhile, the planet had
grown old faster than the sun ; the conditions favorable to
life had disappeared more rapidly than the solar light and
heat.

This conception of the planet's future conforms to our
present knowledge of the universe. Doubtless, our logic
is radically incomplete, puerile even, in comparison with
the real and eternal Truth, and might be justly compared
with that of two ants talking together about the history of
France. But, confessing the modesty which befits the
finite in presence of the infinite, and acknowledging our
nothingness as compared with the universe, we cannot

224 OMEGA.

avoid the necessity of appearing logical to ourselves ; we
cannot assume that the abdication of reason is a better
proof of wisdom than the use of it. We believe that an
intelligent order presides over the universe and controls
the destiny of worlds and their inhabitants ; that the
larger members of the solar system must last longer than
the lesser ones, and, consequently, that the life of each
planet is not equally dependent upon the sun, and cannot,
therefore, continue indefinitely, any more than the sun
itself. Moreover, direct observation confirms this general
conception of the universe. The earth, an extinct sun,
has cooled more rapidly than the sun. Jupiter, so im-
mense, is still in its youth. The moon, smaller than Mars,
has reached the more advanced stages of astral life, per-
haps even has reached its end. Mars, smaller than the
earth, is more advanced than the earth and less so than
the moon. Our planet, in its turn, must die before Jupi-
ter, and this, also, must take place before the sun becomes
extinct.

Consider, in fact, the relative sizes of the earth and the
other planets. The diameter of Jupiter is eleven times
that of the earth, and the diameter of the sun about ten
times that of Jupiter. The diameter of Saturn is nine
times that of the earth. It seems to us, therefore, natural
to believe that Jupiter and Saturn will endure longer
than our planet, Venus, Mars or Mercury, those pigmies
of the system !

OMEGA. 225

Events justified these deductions of science. Dangers
lay in wait for us in the immensity of space ; a thousand
accidents might have befallen us, in the form of comets,
extinct or flaming suns, nebulae, etc. But the planet did
not perish by an accident. Old age awaited the earth, as
it waits for all other things, and it grew old faster than the
sun. It lost the conditions necessary for life more rapidly
than the central luminary lost its heat and its light.

During the long periods of its vital splendor, when,
leading the chorus of the worlds, it bore on its surface an
intelligent race, victors over the blind forces of nature, a
protecting atmosphere, beneath which went on all the
play of life and happiness, guarded its flourishing empires.
An essential element of nature, water, regulated terrestrial
life ; from the very beginning this element had entered
into the composition of every substance, vegetable, animal
and human. It formed the active principle of atmospheric
circulation ; it was the chief agent in the changes of cli-
mate and seasons ; it was the sovereign of the terrestrial
state.

From century to century the quantity of water in the
sea, the rivers and the atmosphere diminished. A portion
of the rain water was absorbed by the earth, and did not
return to the sea ; for, instead of flowing into the sea over
impermeable strata, and so forming either springs or subter-
ranean and submarine watercourses, it had filtered deeper

within the surface, insensibly filling every void, every

226 OMEGA.

fissure, and saturating the rocks to a great depth. So
long as the internal heat of the globe was sufficient to
prevent the indefinite descent of this water, and to convert
it into vapor, a considerable quantity remained upon the
surface ; but the time came when the internal heat of the
globe was entirely dispersed in space and offered no ob-
stacle to infiltration. Then the surface water gradually
diminished ; it united with the rocks, in the form of
hydrates, and thus disappeared from circulation.

Indeed, were the loss of the surface water of the globe
to amount only to a few tenths of a millimeter yearly, in
ten million years none would remain.

This vapor of water in the atmosphere had made warmth
and life possible ; with its disappearance came cold and
death. If at present the aqueous vapor of the atmosphere
should disappear, the heat of the sun would be incapable of
maintaining animal and vegetable life ; life which, more-
over, could not exist, inasmuch as vegetables and animals
are chiefly composed of water.*

The invisible vapor of water, distributed through the
atmosphere, exercises the greatest possible influence on

* Of all terrestrial substances water has the greatest specific heat. It cools more
slowly than any other. Its specific heat is four times greater than that of air. When
the temperature of a kilogram of water falls one degree, it raises the temperature of
four kilograms of air one degree. But water is seven hundred and seventy times
heavier than air, so that if we compare two equal volumes of water and air, we find
that a cubic meter of water, in losing one degree of temperature, raises the tempera-
ture of seven hundred and seventy times four, or 3080 cubic meters of air by the same
amount. This is the explanation of the influence of the sea in modifying the climate
of continents. The heat of summer is stored in the ocean and is slowly given out in
winter. This explains why islands and seashores have no extremes of climate. The
heat of summer is tempered by the breezes, and the cold of winter is alleviated by the
heat stored in the water.

OMEGA. 227

temperature. In quantity this vapor seems almost negli-
gible, since oxygen and nitrogen alone form ninety-nine
and one-half per cent, of the air we breathe ; and the
remaining one-half of one per cent, contains, besides the
vapor of water, carbonic acid, ammonia and other sub-
stances. There is scarcely more than a quarter of one per
cent, of aqueous vapor. If we consider the constituent
atoms of the atmosphere, the physicist tells us that for
two hundred atoms of oxygen and nitrogen there is
scarcely one of water-vapor ; but this one atom has eighty
times more absorptive energy than the two hundred
others.

The radiant heat of the sun, after traversing the atmos-
phere, warms the surface of the earth. The heat waves
reflected from the warmed earth are not lost in space.
The aqueous vapor atoms, acting like a barrier, turn them
back and preserve them for our benefit.

This is one of the most brilliant and the most fruitful
discoveries of modern physics. The oxygen and nitrogen
molecules of dry air do not oppose the radiation of heat ;
but, as we have just said, one molecule of water-vapor
possesses eighty times the absorptive energy of the other
two hundred molecules of dry air, and consequently such
a molecule is sixteen thousand times more efficacious in so
far as the conservation of heat is concerned. So that it is
the vapor of water and not the air, properly speaking,
which regulates the conditions of life upon the earth.

228 OMEGA.

If one should remove this vapor from the surrounding
atmosphere, a loss of heat would go on at the surface simi-
lar to that which takes place in high altitudes, for the
atmosphere would then be as powerless to retain heat as
a vacuum is. A cold like that at the surface of the moon
would be the result. The soil would still receive heat
directly from the sun, but even during the daytime this
heat would not be retained, and after sunset the earth
would be exposed to the glacial cold of space, which
appears to be about 273 below zero. Thus vegetable,
animal and human life would be impossible, if it had not
already become so, through the very disappearance of the
water.

Certainly we may and must admit that water has not
been so essential a condition of life on all the worlds of
space as it has been upon our own. The resources of
nature are not limited by human observation. There
must be, there are, in the limitless realms of space, mill-
ions and millions of suns differing from ours, systems of
worlds in which other substances, other chemical com-
binations, other physical and mechanical conditions, other
environments, have produced beings absolutely unlike our-
selves, living another life, possessed of other senses,
differing in organization from ourselves far more than
the fish or mollusk of the deep sea differs from the
bird or the butterfly. But we are here studying- the
conditions of terrestrial life, and these conditions are

OMEGA

22 9

FOSSIL SPECIMENS OF THE XXTH. CENTURY.

2jo OMEGA.

determined by the constitution of the planet itself.

The gradual filtration of water into the interior of the
earth, keeping pace with the radiation of the earth's orig-
inal heat into space, the slow formation of oxides and
hydrates, in about eight million years reduced by three-
fourths the quantity of water in circulation on the earth's
surface. As a consequence of the disappearance of con-
tinental elevations, whose debris, obeying passively the
laws of gravity, were slowly carried by the rain, the wind,
and the streams to the sea, the earth had become almost
level and the seas more shallow ; but as evaporation and
the formation of aqueous vapor goes on only from the sur-
face and does not depend upon the depth, the atmosphere
was still rich in vapor. The conditions of life upon the
planet were then similar to those we now observe on Mars ;
where we see that great oceans have disappeared or have
become mere inland seas of slight depth, that the conti-
nents are vast plains, that evaporation is active, that a con-
siderable quantity of aqueous vapor still exists, that rains
are rare, that snows abound in the polar regions and are
almost entirely melted during the summer of each year
in short, a world still habitable by beings analogous to
those that people the earth.

This epoch marked the apogee of the human race.
Thenceforward the conditions of life grew less favorable,
and from century to century, from generation to genera-
tion, underwent marked change. Vegetable and animal

OMEGA. 231

species, the human race itself, everything in short, became
transformed. But whereas, hitherto, these metamorphoses
had enriched, embellished and perfected life, the day had
come when decadence was to begin.

During more than a hundred thousand years it was
insensible, for the parabolic curve of life did not suddenly
fall away from its highest point. Humanity had reached
a degree of civilization, of intellectual greatness, of phy-
sical and moral well-being, of scientific, artistic and indus-
trial perfection, incomparably beyond anything of which
we know. For several million years the central heat of the
globe, had been utilized in winter for general warming pur-
poses by towns, villages, manufactories and every variety
of industry. When this failing source of heat had finally
become exhausted, the heat of the sun had been stored
subject to the wants of the race, hydrogen had been ex-
tracted from sea-water, the energy of waterfalls, and sub-
sequently that of the tides, had been transformed into light
and heat, and the entire planet had become the plaything
of science, which disposed at will of all its elements. The
human senses, perfected to a degree which we should now
qualify as supernatural, and those newly acquired, men-
tioned above, become with the lapse of time more highly
developed ; humanity released more and more from the
empire of matter ; a new system of alimentation ; the
spirit governing the body and the gross appetites of for-
mer times forgotten ; the psychic faculties in perpetual

232 OMEGA.

play, acting at a distance over the entire surface of the
globe, communicating under certain conditions with even
the inhabitants of Mars and Venus ; apparatus which we
cannot imagine replacing those optical instruments with
which physical astronomy had begun its investigations ;
the whole world made new in its perceptions and inter-
ests ; an enlightened social condition from which envy
and jealousy, as well as robber}', suffering and murder had
disappeared this, indeed, was a real humanity of flesh
and bone like our own, but as far above t it in intellectual
supremacy as we are above the simians of the tertiary
epoch.

Human intelligence had so completely mastered the
forces of nature that it seemed as if so glorious an era
never could come to an end. The decrease in the amount
of water, however, commenced to alarm even the most op-
timistic. The great oceans had disappeared. The crust of
the earth, once so thin and mobile, had gradually increased
in thickness, and, notwithstanding the internal pressure,
the earth had become almost completely solidified. Oscil-
lations of the surface were no longer possible, for it had
become entirely rigid. The seas which remained were
confined to the tropics. The poles were frozen. The
continents of olden times, where so many other foci of
civilization had shone so brilliantly, were immense des-
erts. Step by step humanity had migrated towards the
tropical zone, still watered by streams, lakes and seas.

OMEGA.

233

RUDIMENTARY SPECIES OF CRYPTOGAMS ONLY SURVIVED."

#4 OMEGA.

There were no more mountains, no more condensers of
snow.

As the quantity of water and rainfall diminished, and,
as the springs failed and the aqueous vapor of the atmos-
phere grew less, vegetation had entirely changed its
aspect, increasing the volume of its leaves and the length
of its roots, seeking in every way to absorb the humidity
necessary for life. Species which had not been able to
adjust themselves to the new conditions had vanished ; the
rest were transformed. Not a tree or a plant with which
we are familiar was to be seen. There were no oaks, nor
ashes, nor elms, nor willows, and the landscape bore no
resemblance to that of today. Rudimentary species of
cryptogams only survived.

Like changes had taken place in the animal kingdom.
Animal forms had been greatly modified. The wild spe-
cies had either disappeared or been domesticated. The
scarcity of water had modified the food of herbivora as
well as carnivora. The most recent species, evolved from
those which preceded them, were smaller, with less fat
and a larger skeleton. The number of plants had sensibly
decreased. Less of the carbonic acid of the air was ab-
sorbed, and a proportionally greater quantity existed in
the atmosphere. As for the human race, its metamor-
phosis was so absolute that it was with an astonishment
bordering on incredulity that one saw in geological mu-
seums fossil specimens of men of the twentieth or one

OMEGA. $35

hundredth century, with great brutal teeth and coarse
intestines ; it was difficult to admit that organisms so
gross could really be the ancestors of intellectual man.

Though millions of years had passed, the sun still
poured upon the earth almost the same quantity of heat
and light. At most, the loss had not exceeded one-tenth.
The only difference was that the sun appeared a little
yellower and a little smaller.

The moon still revolved about the earth, but more
slowly. Its distance from the earth had increased and its
apparent diameter had diminished. At the same time
the period of the earth's rotation had lengthened. This
slower rotatory motion of the earth, increase in the dis-
tance of the moon, and lengthening of the lunar month,
were the results of the friction of the tides, whose action
resembled that of a brake. If the earth and the moon
last long enough, and there are still oceans and tides, cal-
culation would enable us to predict that the time would
come when the periodic time of the earth's rotation would
finally equal the lunar month, so that there would be but
five and one-quarter days in the year : the earth would
then always present the same side to the moon. But this
would require more than 150 million years. The period
of which we are speaking, ten million years, is but a
fifteenth of the above ; and the time of the earth's rota-
tion, instead of being seventy times, was only four and
one-half times greater than it now is, or about no hours.

2j6 OMEGA.

These long days exposed the earth to the prolonged
action of the sun, but except in those regions where its
rays were normal to the surface, that is to say in the equa-
torial zone between the two tropical circles, this exposure
availed nothing ; the obliquity of the ecliptic had not
changed ; the inclination of the axis of the earth being
the same, about two degrees, and the changes in the
eccentricity of the earth's orbit had produced no sensible
effect upon the seasons or the climate.

The human form, food, respiration, organic functions,
physical and intellectual life, ideas, opinions, religion,
science, language all had changed. Of present man
almost nothing survived.

CHAPTER IV.

THE last habitable regions of the globe were two wide
valleys near the equator, the basins of dried up seas ; val-
leys of slight depth, for the general level was almost ab-
solutely uniform. No mountain peaks, ravines or wild
gorges, not a single wooded valley or precipice was to be
seen ; the world was one vast plain, from which rivers and
seas had gradually disappeared. But as the action of
meteorological agents, rainfall and streams, had dimin-
ished in intensity with the loss of water, the last hollows
of the sea bottom had not been entirely filled up, and

shallow valleys remained, vestiges of the former structure

237

238 OMEGA.

of the globe. In these a little ice and moisture were left,
but the circulation of water in the atmosphere had ceased,
and the rivers flowed in subterranean channels as in in-
visible veins.

As the atmosphere contained no aqueous vapor, the sky
was always cloudless, and there was neither rain nor snow.
The sun, less dazzling 'and less hot than formerly, shone
with the yellowish splendor of a topaz. The color of the
sky was sea-green rather than blue. The volume of the
atmosphere had diminished considerably. Its oxygen and
nitrogen had become in part fixed in metallic combina-
tions, as oxides and nitrides, and its carbonic acid had
slowly increased, as vegetation, deprived of water, became
more and more rare and absorbed an ever decreasing
amount of this gas. But the mass of the earth, owing
to the constant fall of meteorites, bolides and uranolites,
had increased with time ; so that the atmosphere, though
considerably less in volume, had retained its density and
exerted nearly the same pressure.

Strangely enough, the snow and ice had diminished as
the earth grew cold ; the cause of this low temperature was
the absence of water vapor from the atmosphere, which
had decreased with the superficial area of the sea. As the
water penetrated the interior of the earth and the general
level became more uniform, first the depth and then the
area of seas had been reduced, the invisible envelope of
aqueous vapor had lost its protecting power, and the day

OMEGA. 239

came when the return of the heat received from the sun
was no longer prevented, it was radiated into space as
rapidly as it was received, as if it fell upon a mirror inca-
pable of absorbing its rays.

Such was the condition of the earth. The last repre-
sentatives of the human race had survived all these physi-
cal transformations- solely by virtue of its genius of inven-
tion and power of adaptation. Its last efforts had been
directed toward extracting nutritious substances from the
air, from subterranean water, and from plants, and replac-
ing the vanished vapor of the air by buildings and roofs
of glass.

It was necessary at any cost to capture these solar rays
and to prevent their radiation into space. It was easy to
store up this heat in large quantities, for the sun shone
unobscured by any cloud and the day was long fifty-five
hours.

For a long time the efforts of architects had been solely
directed towards this imprisonment of the sun's rays and
the prevention of their dispersion during the fifty-five
hours of the night. They had succeeded in accomplish-
ing this by an ingenius arrangement of glass roofs, super-
posed one upon the other, and by movable screens. All
combustible material had long before been exhausted ; and
even the hydrogen extracted from water was difficult to
obtain.

The mean temperature in the open air during the day-

240 OMEGA.

time was not very low, not falling below -10.* Not-
withstanding the changes which the ages had wrought in
vegetable life, no species of plants could exist, even in
this equatorial zone.

As for the other latitudes, they had been totally unin-
habitable for thousands of years, in spite of every effort
made to live in them. In the latitudes of Paris, Nice,
Rome, Naples, Algiers and Tunis, all protective atmos-
pheric action had ceased, and the oblique rays of the sun
had proved insufficient to warm the soil which was frozen
to a great depth, like a veritable block of ice. The world's
population had gradually diminished from ten milliards
to nine, to eight, and then to seven, one-half the surface
of the globe being then habitable. As the habitable zone
became more and more restricted to the equator, the popu
lation had still further diminished, as had also the mean
length of human life, and the day came when only a few
hundred millions remained, scattered in groups along the
equator, and maintaining life only by the artifices of a
laborious and scientific industry.

Later still, toward the end, only two groups of a few
hundred human beings were left, occupying the last sur-
viving centers of industry. From all the rest of the globe

* Many readers will regard this climate quite bearable, inasmuch, as in onr own
day regions may be cited whose mean temperature is much lower, yet which are never-
theless habitable, as, for example, Verchnoiansk, whose mean annual temperature is
-19.3. But in these regions there is a summer during which the ice melts ; and if in
January the temperature falls to -60, and even lower, in July they enjoy a temperature
of fifteen and twenty degrees above zero. But at the stage w'hich we have now reached
in the history of the world, this mean temperature of the equatorial zone was constant,
and it was impossible for ice ever to melt again.

OMEGA. 241

the human race had slowly but inexorably disappeared
dried up, exhausted, degenerated, from century to century,
through the lack of an assimilable atmosphere and suffi-
cient food. Its last remnants seemed to have lapsed back
into barbarism, vegetating like the Esquimaux of the
north. These two ancient centers of civilization, them-
selves yielding to decay, had survived only at the cost of a
constant struggle between industrial genius and implac-
able nature.

Even here, between the tropics and the equator, the two
remaining groups of human beings which still contrived
to exist in face of a thousand hardships which yearly be-
came more insupportable, did so only by subsisting, so to
speak, on what their predecessors had left behind. These
two ocean valleys, one of which was near the bottom of
what is now the Pacific ocean, the other to the south of
the present island of Ceylon, had formerly been the sites
of two immense cities of glass iron and glass having
been, for a long time, the materials chiefly employed in
building construction. They resembled vast winter-gar-
dens, without upper stories, with transparent ceilings of
immense height. Here were to be found the last plants,
except those cultivated in the subterranean galleries lead-
ing to rivers flowing under ground.

Elsewhere the surface of the earth was a ruin, and
even here only the last vestiges of a vanished greatness
were to be seen.

242

OMEGA .

THK SOLE SURVIVORS.

In the first of these ancient cities of glass, the sole
survivors were two old men, and the grandson of one
of them, Omegar, who had seen his mother and sisters
die, one after the other, of consumption, and who now
wandered in despair through these vast solitudes. Of
these old men, one had formerly been a philosopher and
had consecrated his long life to the study of the his-
tory of perishing humanity ; the other was a physician
who had in vain sought to save from consumption the

OMEGA. 243

last inhabitants of the world. Their bodies seemed
wasted by anaemia rather than by age. They were pale
as specters, with long, white beards, and only their moral
energy sustained them yet an instant against the de-
cree of destiny. But they could not struggle longer
against this destiny, and one day Omegar found them
stretched lifeless, side by side. From the dying hands
of one fell the last history ever written, the history
of the final transformations of humanity, written half
a century before. The second had died in his labora-
tory while endeavoring to keep in order the nourish-
ment tubes, automatically regulated by machinery pro-
pelled by solar engines.

The last servants, long before developed by educa-
tion from the simian race, had succumbed many years
before, as had also the great majority of the animal
species domesticated for the service of humanity.
Horses, dogs, reindeers, and certain large birds used in
aerial service, yet survived, but so entirely changed
that they bore no resemblance to their progenitors.

It was evident that the race was irrevocably
doomed. Science had disappeared with scientists, art
with artists, and the survivors lived only upon the
past. The heart knew no more hope, the spirit no
ambition. The light was in the past ; the future was
an eternal night. All was over. The glories of days
gone by had forever vanished. If, in preceding cen-

244 OMEGA.

turies, some traveller, wandering in these solitudes,
thought he had rediscovered the sites of Paris, Rome,
or the brilliant capitals which had succeeded them, he
was the victim of his own imagination ; for these sites
had not existed for millions of years, having been swept
away by the waters of the sea. Vague traditions
had floated down through the ages, thanks to the
printing-press and the recorders of the great events of
history ; but even these traditions were uncertain and
often false. For, as to Paris, the annals of history
contained only some references to a maritime Paris ;
of its existence as the capital of France for thousands
of years, there was no trace nor memory. The names
which to us seem immortal, Confucius, Plato, Mahomet,
Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon, had
perished and were forgotten. Art had, indeed, pre-
served noble memories ; but these memories did not
extend as far back as the infancy of humanity, and
reached only a few million years into the past. Ome-
gar lingered in an ancient gallery of pictures, be-
queathed by former centuries, and contemplated the
great cities which had disappeared. Only one of these
pictures related to what had once been Europe, and
was a view of Paris, consisting of a promontory pro-
jecting into the sea, crowned by an astronomical
temple and gay with helicopterons circling above the
lofty towers of its terraces. Immense ships were plow^

OMEGA .

245

"ALL DAY LONG HE WANDERED THROUGH THE VAST GALLERIES. 1 '

^<5 OMEGA.

ing the sea. This classic Paris was the Paris of the
one hundred and seventieth century of the Christian
era, corresponding to the one hundred and fifty-seventh
of the astronomical era the Paris which existed im-
mediately prior to the final submergence of the land.
Even its name had changed ; for words change like
persons and things. Nearby, other pictures portrayed
the great but less ancient cities which had risen in
America, Australia, Asia, and afterwards upon the con-
tinents which had emerged from the ocean. And so
this museum of the past recalled in succession the
passing pomps of humanity down to the end.

The end ! The hour had struck on the time-piece
of destiny. Omegar knew the life of the world hence-
forth was in the past, that no future existed for it, and
that the present even was vanishing like the dream of
a moment. The last heir of the human race felt the
overwhelming sentiment of the vanity of things.
Should he wait for some inconceivable miracle to save
him from his fate? Should he bury his companions,
and share their tomb with them ? Should he endeavor
to prolong for a few days, a few weeks, a few years
even, a solitary, useless and despairing existence? All
day long he wandered through the vast and silent gal-
leries, and at night abandoned himself to the drowsi-
ness which oppressed him. All about him was dark
the darkness of the sepulchre.

OMEGA. 247

A sweet dream, however, stirred his slumbering
thought, and surrounded his soul with a halo of an-
gelic brightness. Sleep brought him the illusion of
life. He was no longer alone. A seductive image
which he had seen more than once before, stood be :
fore him. Eyes caressing as the light of heaven, deep
as the infinite, gazed upon him and attracted him.
He was in a garden filled with the perfume of flow-
ers. Birds sang in the nests amid the foliage. And
in the distant landscape, framed in plants and flowers,
were the vast ruins of dead cities. Then he saw a
lake, on whose rippling surface two swans glided,
bearing a cradle from which a new-born child stretched
toward him its arms.

Never had such a ray of light illuminated his soul.
So deep was his emotion that he suddenly awoke,
opened his eyes, and found confronting him only the
somber reality. Then a sadness more terrible even
than any he had known filled his whole being. He
could not find an instant of repose. He rose, went to
his couch, and waited anxiously for the morning. He
remembered his dream, but he did not believe in it.
He felt, vaguely, that another human being existed
somewhere ; but his degenerate race had lost, in part,
its psychic power, and perhaps, also, woman always ex-
erts upon man an attraction more powerful than that
which man exerts upon woman. When the day broke,

248 OMEGA.

when the last man saw the ruins of his ancient city
standing out upon the sky of dawn, when he found
himself alone with the two last dead, he realized more
than ever his unavoidable destiny, and decided to ter-
minate at once a life so hopelessly miserable.

Going into the laboratory, he sought a bottle whose
contents were well known to him, uncorked it, and
carried it to his lips, to empty it at a draught. But,
at the very moment the vial touched his lips, he felt
a hand upon his arm.

He turned suddenly. There was no one in the
laboratory, and in the gallery he found only the two
dead.

CHAPTER V.

IN the ruins of the other equatorial city, occupying a
once submerged valley south of the island of Ceylon,
was a young girl, whose mother and older sister had
perished of consumption and cold, and who was now
left alone, the last surviving member of the last fam-
ily of the race. A few trees, of northern species, had
been preserved under the spacious dome of glass, and
beneath their scanty foliage, holding the cold hands of

her mother who had died the night before, the young

249

250 OMEGA.

girl sat alone, doomed to death in the very flower of
her age. The night was cold. In the sky above the
full moon shone like a golden torch, but its yellow
rays were as cold as the silver beams of the ancient
Selene. In the vast room reigned the stillness and
solitude of death, broken only by the young girl's
breathing, which seemed to animate the silence with
the semblance of life.

She was not weeping. Her sixteen years contained
more experience and knowledge than sixty years of the
world's prime. She knew that she was the sole sur-
vivor of this last group of human beings, and that
every happiness, every joy and every hope had van-
ished .forever. There was no present, no future ; only
solituderand silence, the physical and moral impossibil-
ity of life, and soon eternal sleep. She thought of
the woman df bygone days, of those who had lived
the real life of humanity, of lovers, wives and mothers,
but to her red * and tearless eyes appeared only images
of death ; while beyond the walls of glass stretched
a barren desert, covered by the last ice and the last
snow. Now her young heart beat violently in her
breast, till her slender hands could no longer com-
press its tumult; and now life seemed arrested in her
bosom, and every respiration suspended. If for a
moment she fell asleep, in her dreams she played
again with her laughing and care-free sister, while

OMEGA.

her mother sung in a pure and penetrating voice the
beautiful inspirations of the last poets ; and she seemed
to see, once more, the last fetes of a brilliant society,
as if reflected from the surface of some distant mir-
ror. Then, on awakening, these magic memories
faded into the somber reality. Alone ! Alone in the
world, and tomorrow death, without having known
life ! To struggle against this unavoidable fate was
useless ; the decree of destiny was without appeal, and
there was nothing to do but to submit, to await the
inevitable end, since without food or air organic life
was impossible
ticipate death
self at once
existence and
She passed into
where the warm
flowing, al-
pliances which
ed to supply the
were no longer
der ; for the last
vants (descend-
simian species,
human race had
changing con-
had also SUC- -ALONE!'

else to an-
and deliver one-
from a joyless
a certain doom,
the bath-room,
water was still
though the ap-
art had design-
wants of life
in working or-
remaining ser-
ants of ancient
modified, as the
been, by the
ditions of life,)
cumbed to the

252 OMEGA.

insufficiency of water. She plunged into the perfumed
bath, turned the key which regulated the supply of
electricity derived from subterranean water-courses still
unfrozen, and for a moment seemed to forget the de-
cree of destiny in the enjoyment of this refreshing rest.
Had any indiscreet spectator beheld her as, standing upon
the bear-skin before the large mirror, she began to ar-
range the tresses of her long auburn hair, he would have
detected a smile upon her lips, showing that, for an in-
stant, she was oblivious of her dark future. Passing into
another room, she approached the apparatus which fur-
nished the food of that time, extracted from the water,
air, and the plants and fruits automatically cultivated in
the greenhouses.

It was still in working order, like a clock which has
been wound up. For thousands of years the genius of
man had been almost exclusively applied to the strug-
gle with destiny. The last remaining water had been
forced to circulate in subterranean canals, where also
the solar heat had been stored. The last animals had
been trained to serve these machines, and the nutritious
properties of the last plants had been utilized to the
utmost. Men had finally succeeded in living iipon
almost nothing, so far as quantity was concerned ;
every newly discovered form of food being completely
assimilable. Cities had finally been built of glass,
open to the sun, to which was conveyed every sub-

OMEGA. 253

stance necessary to the synthesis of the food which re-
placed the products of nature. But as time passed, it
became more and more difficult to obtain the necessaries
of life. The mine was at last exhausted. Matter had
been conquered by intelligence ; but the day had come
when intelligence itself was overmatched, when every
worker had died at his post and the earth's storehouse
had been depleted. Unwilling to abandon this desper-
ate struggle, man had put forth every effort. But he
could not prevent the earth's absorption of water, and
the last resources of a science which seemed greater
even than nature itself had been exhausted.

Eva returned to the body of her mother, and once
more took the cold hands in her own. The psychic
faculties of the race in these its latter days had ac-
quired, as we have said, transcendent powers, and she
thought for a moment to summon her mother from
the tomb. It seemed to her as if she must have one
more approving glance, one more counsel. A single
idea took possession of her, so fascinating her that she
even lost the desire to die. She saw afar the soul
which should respond to her own. Every man be-
longing to that company of which she was the last
survivor had died before her birth. Woman had out-
lived the sex once called strong. In the pictures up-
on the walls of the great library, in books, engrav-
ings and statues, she saw represented the great men of

254 OMEGA.

the city, but she had never seen a living man ; and
still dreaming, strange and disquieting forms passed be-
fore her. She was transported into an unknown and
mysterious world, into a new life, and love did not seem
to be yet wholly banished from earth. During the reign
of cold, all electrical communication between the two
last cities left upon the earth had been interrupted.
Their inhabitants could speak no more with eath other,
see each other no more, nor feel each other's presence.
Yet she was as well acquainted with the ocean city as
if she had seen it, and when she fixed her eyes upon
the great terrestrial globe suspended from the ceiling of
the library, and then, closing them, concentrated all her
will and psychic power upon the object of her thoughts,
she acted at a distance as effectively, though in a dif-
ferent way, as in former days men had done when
communicating with each other by electricity. She
called, and felt that another heard and understood. The
preceding night she had transported herself to the an-
cient city in which Omegar lived, and had appeared to
him for an instant in a dream. That very morning she
had witnessed his despairing act and by a supreme effort
of the will had arrested his arm. And now, stretched
in her chair beside the dead body of her mother, heavy
with sleep, her solitary soul wandered in dreams above
the ocean city, seeking the companionship of the only
mate left upon the earth. And far away, in that ocean

OMEGA.

255

Py G. Rochtgrosse.

" SHK FELT THAT ANOTHKK HEARD AND UNDERSTOOD."

2 5 6

OMEGA .

city, Omegar heard her call. Slowly, as in a dream,
he ascended the platform from which the air-ships used
to take their flight. Yielding to a mysterious influence,

he obeyed the distant
summons. Speeding to-
ward the west, the elec-
tric air-ship passed above
the frozen regions of the
tropics, once the site of
the Pacific ocean, Poly-
nesia, Malaisia and the
Sunda islands, and
stopped at the landing

YOU CALLED ME. I HAVE COME,"

OMEGA. 257

of the crystal palace. The young girl, startled from her
dream by the traveller, who fell from the air at her feet,
fled in terror to the farther end of the immense hall, lift-
ing the heavy curtain of skin which separated it from
the library. When the young man reached her side, he
stopped, knelt, and took her hand in his, saying simply :
" You called me. I have come." And then he added :
u I have known you for a long time. I knew that you
existed, I have often seen you ; you are the constant
thought of my heart, but I did not dare to come."

She bade him rise, saying : " My friend, I know that
we are alone in the world, and that we are about to die.
A will stronger than my own compelled me to call you.
It seemed as if it were the supreme desire of my mother,
supreme even in death. See, she sleeps thus since yester-
day. How long the night is ! "

The young man, kneeling, had taken the hand of the
dead, and they both stood there beside the funeral couch,
as if in prayer.

He leaned gently toward the young girl, and their heads
touched. He let fall the hand of the dead.

Eva shuddered. " No," she said.

Then, suddenly, he sprang to his feet in terror ; the
dead woman had revived. She had withdrawn the hand
which he had taken in his own, and had opened her eyes.
She made a movement, looking at them.

" I wake from a strange dream," she said, without seem-

25*

OM E GA .

" ' BEHOLD, WHERE WE SHALL BE TOMORROW

OMEGA. 259

ing surprised at the presence of Omegar. " Behold, my
children, my dream ; " and she pointed to the planet Jupi-
ter, shining with dazzling splendor in the sky.

And as they gazed upon the star, to their astonished
vision, it appeared to approach them, to grow larger, to
take the place of the frozen scene about them.

Its immense seas were covered with ships. Aerial fleets
cleaved the air. The shores of its seas and the mouths of
its great rivers were the scenes of a prodigious activity.
Brilliant cities appeared, peopled by moving multitudes.
Neither the details of their habitations nor the forms of
these new beings could be distinguished, but one divined
that here was a humanity quite different from ours, living
in the bosom of another nature, having other senses at its
disposal ; and one felt also that this vast world was in-
comparably superior to the earth.

" Behold, where we shall be tomorrow ! " said the dying
woman. " We shall find there all the human race, per-
fected and transformed. Jupiter has received the inheri-
tance of the earth. Our world has accomplished its mis-
sion, and life is over here below. Farewell ! "

She stretched out her arms to them ; they bent over her
pale face and pressed a long kiss upon her forehead. But
they perceived that this forehead was cold as marble, in
spite of this strange awakening.

The dead woman had closed her eyes, to open them no
more.

' ;

I r^ - J

CHAPTER VI.

IT is sweet to live. Love atones for every loss ; in its
joys all else is forgotten. Ineffable music of the heart,
thy divine melody fill the soul with an ecstasy of infinite
happiness ! What illustrious historians have celebrated
the heroes of the world's progress, the glories of war, the
conquests of mind and of spirit ! Yet after so many cen-
turies of labor and struggle, there remained only two pal-
pitating hearts, the kisses of two lovers. All had perished
except love ; and love, the supreme sentiment, endured,
shining like an inextinguishable beacon over the immense
ocean of the vanished ages.

OMEGA. 261

Death ! They did not dream of it. Did they not suf-
fice for each other ? What if the cold froze their very
marrow ? Did they not possess in their hearts a warmth
which defied the cold of nature ? Did not the sun still
shine gloriously, and was not the final doom of the world
yet far distant ? Omegar bent every energy to the main-
tenance of the marvellous system which had been devised
for the automatic extraction by chemical processes of the
nutritive principles of the air, water and plants, and in
this he seemed to be successful. So in other days, after
the fall of the Roman empire, the barbarians had been
seen to utilize during centuries the aqueducts, baths and
thermal springs, all the creations of the civilization of the
Caesars, and to draw from a vanished industry the sources
of their own strength.

But one day, wonderful as it was, this system gave out.
The subterranean waters themselves ceased to flow. The
soil was frozen to a great depth. The rays of the sun still
warmed the air within the glass-covered dwellings, but
no plant could live longer ; the supply of water was ex-
hausted.

The combined efforts of science and industry were im-
potent to give to the atmosphere the nutritive qualities
possessed by those of other worlds, and the human organ-
ism constantly clamored for the regenerating principles
which, as we have seen, had been derived from the air,
water and plants. These sources were now exhausted.

262 OMEGA.

This last human pair struggled against these insur-
mountable obstacles, and recognized the uselessness of
farther contest, yet they were not resigned to death. Be-
fore knowing each other they had awaited it fearlessly.
Now each wished to defend the other, the beloved one,
against pitiless destiny. The very idea of seeing Omegar
lying inanimate beside her, filled Kva with such anguish
that she could not bear the thought. And he, too, vainly
longed to carry away his well beloved from a world
doomed to decay, to fly with her to that brilliant Jupiter
which awaited them, and not to abandon to the earth the
body he adored.

He thought that, perhaps, there still existed, somewhere
upon the earth, a spot which had retained a little of that
life-giving water without which existence was impossible ;
and, although already they were both almost without
strength, he formed the supreme resolution of setting out
to seek for it. The electric aeronef was still in working
order. Forsaking the city which was now only a tomb,
the two last survivors of a vanished humanity abandoned
these inhospitable regions and set out to seek some un-
known oasis.

The ancient kingdoms of the world passed under their
feet. They saw the remains of great cities, made illus-
trious by the splendors of civilization, lying in ruins
along the equator. The silence of death covered them
all. Omegar recognized the ancient city which he had

OMEGA. 263

recently left, but he knew that there, also the supreme
source of life was lacking, and they did not stop. They
traversed thus, in their solitary air-ship, the regions
which had witnessed the last stages of the life of human-
ity ; but death, and silence, and the frozen desert was
everywhere. No more fields, no more vegetation ; the
watercourses were visible as on a map, and it was evi-
dent that along their banks life had been prolonged ; but
they were now dried up forever. And when, at times,
some motionless lake was distinguished in the lower level,
it was like a lake of stone ; for even at the equator the
sun was powerless to melt the eternal ice. A kind of
bear, with long fur, was still to be seen wandering over
the frozen earth, seeking in the crevices of the rocks
its scanty vegetable food. From time to time, also,
they descried a kind of penguin and sea-cows walking
upon the ice, and large, gray polar birds in awkward
flight, or alighting mournfully.

Nowhere was the sought-for oasis found. The earth
was indeed dead.

Night came. Not a cloud obscured the sky. A
warmer current from the south had carried them over
what was formerly Africa, now a frozen waste. The
mechanism of the aeronef had ceased to work. Ex-
hausted by cold rather than by hunger, they threw
themselves upon the bear-skins in the bottom of the
car.

OMEGA .

By O. Guillonnet.

" A WHITE SHADOW STOPPED BEFOKE THEIR ASTONISHED EYES."

OMEGA. 265

Perceiving a ruin, they alighted. It was an immense
quadrangular base, revealing traces of an enormous stone
stairway. It was still possible to recognize one of the
ancient Egyptian pyramids which, in the middle of the
desert, survived the civilization which it represented.
With all Egypt, Nubia and Abyssinia, it had sunk below
the level of the sea, and had afterwards emerged into the
light and been restored in the heart of a new capital by a
new civilization, more brilliant than that of Thebes and
of Memphis, and finally had been again abandoned to the
desert. It was the only remaining monument of the earl-
ier life of humanity, and owed its stability to its geometric
form.

" Let us rest here," said Eva, " since we are doomed to
die. Who, indeed, has escaped death ? Let me die in
peace in your arms."

They sought a corner of the ruin and sat down beside
each other, face to face with the silent desert. The young
girl cowered upon the ground, pressing her husband in
her arms, still striving with all her might against the
penetrating cold. He drew her to his heart, and warmed
her with his kisses.

" I love you, and I am dying," she said. " But, no, we
will not die. See that star, which calls us ! "

At the same moment they heard behind them a slight
noise, issuing from the ancient tomb of Cheops, a noise
like that the wind makes in the leaves. Shuddering, they

266 OMEGA.

turned, together, in the direction whence the sound came.
A white shadow, which seemed to be self-luminous, for
the night was already dark and there was no moon, glided
rather than walked toward them, and stopped before their
astonished eyes.

" Fear nothing," it said. u I come to seek you. No,
you shall not die. No one has ever died. Time flows
into eternity ; eternity remains.

" I was Cheops, King of Egypt, and I reigned over this
country in the early days of the world. As a slave, I have
since expiated my crimes in many existences, and when at
length my soul deserved immortality I lived upon Nep-
tune, Ganymede, Rhea, Titan, Saturn, Mars, and other
worlds as yet unknown to you. Jupiter is now my home.
In the days of humanity's greatness, Jupiter was not habit-
able for intelligent beings. It was passing through the
necessary stages of preparation. Now this immense world
is the heir to all human achievement. Worlds succeed
each other in time as in space. All is eternal, and merges
into the divine. Confide in me, and follow me."

And as the old Pharaoh was still speaking, they felt a
delicious fluid penetrate their souls, as sometimes the ear
is filled with an exquisite melody. A sense of calm and
transcendent happiness flowed in their veins. Never, in
any dream, in any ecstasy, had they ever experienced such
joy.

Eva pressed Omegar in her arms. " I love you," she

OMEGA .

267

By O. Guillonnet.

THE SPECTRE ROSE INTO SPACE.

268

OMEGA .

repeated. Her voice was only a breath. He touched his
lips to her already cold mouth, and heard them murmur :
" How I could have loved ! "

Jupiter was shining majestically above them, and in the
glorious light of his rays their sight grew dim and their
eyes gently closed.

The spectre rose into space and vanished. And one to
whom it is given to see, not with the bodily eyes, which
perceive only material vibrations, but with the eyes of the
soul, which perceive psychical vibrations, might have seen
two small flames shining side by side, united by a com-
mon attraction, and rising, together with the phantom,
into the heavens.

EPILOGUE.

"And the angel lifted up his hand to heaven and
sware by Him that liveth forever and ever that there
should be time no longer." Rev. x., 6.

THE earth was dead. The other
planets also had died one after the
other. The sun was extinguished.
But the stars still shone; there were
^_ still suns and worlds.

In the measureless duration of eternity, time, an essen-
tially relative conception, is determined by each world, and
even in each world this conception is dependent upon the
consciousness of the individual. Each world measures its
own duration. The year of the earth is not that of Nep-
tune. The latter is 164 times the former, and yet is not
longer relatively to the absolute. There is no common
measure between time and eternity. In empty space there
is no time, no years, no centuries ; only the possibility of a

270 OMEGA.

measurement of time which becomes real the moment a
revolving world appears. Without some periodic motion
no conception whatever of time is possible.

The earth no longer existed, nor her celestial com-
panion, the little isle of Mars, nor the beautiful sphere
of Venus, nor the colossal world of Jupiter, nor the
strange universe of Saturn, which had lost its rings,
nor the slow-moving Uranus and Neptune not even
the glorious sun, in whose fecundating heat these man-
sions of the heavens had basked for so many centuries.
The sun was a dark ball, the planets also ; and still
this invisible system sped on in the glacial cold of
starry space. So far as life is concerned, all these
worlds were dead, did not exist. They survived their
past history like the ruins of the dead cities of Assyria
which the archaeologist uncovers in the desert, moving
on their way in darkness through the invisible and the
unknown.

No genius, no magician could recall the vanished
past, when the earth floated bathed in light, with its
broad green fields waking to the morning sun, its rivers
winding like long serpents through the verdant mead-
ows, its woods alive with the songs of birds, its forests
filled with deep and mysterious shadows, its seas heav-
ing with the tides or roaring in the tempest, its moun-
tain slopes furrowed with rushing streams and cascades,
its gardens enameled with flowers, its nests of birds

OMEGA, 271

and cradles of children, and its toiling population, whose
activity had transformed it and who lived so joyously
a life perpetuated by the delights of an endless love.
All this happiness seemed eternal. What has become
of those mornings and evenings, of those flowers and
those lovers, of that light and perfume, of those har-
monies and joys, of those beauties and dreams? All
is dead, has disappeared in the darkness of night.

The world dead, all the planets dead, the sun extin-
guished. The solar system annihilated, time itself sus-
pended.

Time lapses into eternity. But eternity remains, and
time is born again.

Before the existence of the earth, throughout an
eternity, suns and worlds existed, peopled with beings
like ourselves. Millions of years before the earth was,
they were. The past of the universe has been as
brilliant as the present, the future will be as the past,
the present is of no importance.

In examining the past history of the earth, we might
go back to a time when our planet shone in space, a
veritable sun, appearing as Jupiter and Saturn do now,
shrouded in a dense atmosphere charged with warm
vapors ; and we might follow all its transformations
down to the period of man. We have seen that when
its heat was entirely dissipated, its waters absorbed, the
aqueous vapor of its atmosphere gone, and this atmos-

272 OMEGA.

phere itself more or less absorbed, our planet must have
presented the appearance of those great lunar deserts
seen through the telescope (with certain differences due
to the action of causes peculiar to the earth), with its
final geographical configurations, its dried-up shores and
water-courses, a planetary corpse, a dead and frozen
world. It still bears, however, within its bosom an
unexpended energy that of its motion of translation
about the sun, an energy which, transformed into heat
by the sudden destruction of its motion, would suffice
to melt it and to reduce it, in part, to a state of
vapor, thus inaugurating a new epoch ; but for an
instant only, for, if this motion of translation were
destroyed, the earth would fall into the sun and its
independent existence would come to an end. If sud-
denly arrested it would move in a straight line toward
the sun, with an, increasing velocity, and reach the sun
in sixty-five days ; were its motion gradually arrested,
it would move in a spiral, to be swallowed up, at last,
in the central luminary.

The entire history of terrestrial life is before our
eyes. It has its commencement and its end ; and its
duration, however many the centuries which compose it,
is preceded and followed by eternity is, indeed, but a
single instant lost in eternity.

For a long time after the earth had ceased to be the
abode of life, the colossal worlds of Jupiter and Saturn,

OMEGA. 273

passing more slowly from their solar to their planetary
stage, reigned in their turn among the planets, with
the splendor of a vitality incomparably superior to that
of our earth. But they, also, waxed old and descended
into the night of the tomb.

Had the earth, like Jupiter, for example, retained
long enough the elements of life, death would have
come only with the extinction of the sun. But the
length of the life of a world is proportional to its
size and its elements of vitality.

The solar heat is due to two principal causes the
condensation of the original nebula, and the fall of
meteorites. According to the best established calcula-
tions of thermodynamics, the former has produced a
quantity of heat eighteen million times greater than
that which the sun radiates yearly, supposing the orig-
inal nebula was cold, which there is no reason to
believe was the case. It is, therefore, certain that the
solar temperature produced by this condensation far
exceeded the above. If condensation continues, the
radiation of heat may go on for centuries without loss.

The heat emitted every second is equal to that
which would result from the combustion of eleven
quadrillions six hundred thousand milliards of tons of

274

OMEGA.

coal burning at once ! The earth intercepts only one
five hundredth millionth part of the radiant heat, and
this one five hundredth millionth suffices to maintain
all terrestrial life. Of sixty-seven millions of light
and heat rays which the sun radiates into space, only
one is received and utilized by the planets.

Well ! to maintain this source of heat it is only
necessary that the rate of condensation should be such

that the sun's
decrease seventy-
year, or one kilo-
years. This con-
gradual that it
imperceptible,
five hundred
required to re-
by one single
Even if the sun
gaseous state, its

diameter should
seven meters a
meter in thirteen
traction is so
would be wholly
Nine thousand
years would be
duce the diameter
second of arc.
be actually in a
temperature, so

far from growing less, or even remaining stationary,
would increase by the very fact of contraction ; for if
on the one hand the temperature of a gaseous body
falls when it condenses, on the other hand the heat
generated by contraction is more than sufficient to pre-
vent a fall in temperature, and the amount of heat
increases until a liquid state is reached. The sun seems
to have reached this stage.

OMEGA. 275

The condensation of the sun, whose density is only
one-fourth that of the earth, may thus of itself main-
tain for centuries, at least for ten million years, the
light and heat of this brilliant star. But we have just
spoken of a second source of heat : the fall of meteor-
ites. One hundred and forty-six million meteorites fall
upon the earth yearly. A vastly greater number fall
into the sun, because of its greater attraction. If their
mass equals about the one hundredth part of the mass
of the earth, their fall would suffice to maintain the
temperature, not by their combustion, for if the sun
itself was being consumed it would not have lasted
more than six thousand years, but by the sudden trans-
formation of the energy of motion into heat, the ve-
locity of impact being 650,000 meters per second, so
great is the solar attraction.

If the earth should fall into the sun, it would make
good for ninety-five years the actual loss of solar en-
ergy ; Venus would make good this loss for eighty-
four years; Mercury for seven; Mars for thirteen; Jup-
iter for 32,254; Saturn for 9652; Uranus for 1610 ;
and Neptune for 1890 years. That is to say, the fall
of all the planets into the sun would produce heat
enough to maintain the present rate of expenditure
for about 46,000 years.

It is therefore certain that the fall of meteors greatly
lengthens the life of the sun. One thirty-third mill-

276 OMEGA.

ionth of the solar mass added each year would com-
pensate for the loss, and half of this would be suffi-
cient if we admit that condensation shares equally with
the fall of meteorites in the maintenance of solar heat ;
centuries would have to pass before any acceleration
of the planets' velocities would be apparent.

Owing to these two causes alone we may, therefore,
admit a future for the sun of at least twenty million years ;
and this period cannot but be increased by other unknown
causes, to say nothing of an encounter with a swarm of
meteorites.

The sun therefore was the last living member of the sys-
tem ; the last animated by the warmth of life.

But the sun also went out. After having so long poured
upon his celestial children his vivifying beams, the black
spots upon his surface increased in number and in extent,
his brilliant photosphere grew dull, and his hitherto daz-
zling surface became congealed. An enormous red ball
took the place of the dazzling center of the vanished worlds.

For a long time this enormous star maintained a high
surface temperature, and a sort of phosphorescent atmos-
phere ; its virgin soil, illumined by the light of the stars
and by the electric influences which formed a kind of at-
mosphere, gave birth to a marvelous flora, to an unknown
fauna, to beings differing absolutely in organization from
those who had succeeded each other upon the worlds of its
system.

OMEGA. 277

But for the sun also the end came, and the hour sounded
on the timepiece of destiny when the whole solar system
was stricken from the book of life. And one after another
the stars, each one of which is a sun, a solar system, shared
the same fate ; yet the universe continued to exist as it
does today.

The science of mathematics tells us : " The solar system
does not appear to possess at present more than the one
four hundred and fifty-fourth part of the transformable en-
ergy which it had in the nebulous state. Although this
remainder constitutes a fund whose magnitude confounds
our imagination, it will also some day be exhausted. La-
ter, the transformation will be complete for the entire uni-
verse, resulting in a general equilibrium of temperature
and pressure.

" Energy will not then be susceptible of transformation.
This does not mean annihilation, a word without meaning,
nor does it mean the absence of motion, properly speak-
ing, since the same sum of energy will always exist in the
form of atomic motion, but the absence of all sensible
motion, of all differentiation, the absolute uniformity of
conditions, that is to say, absolute death."

Such is the present statement of the science of mathe-
matics.

278 OMEGA.

Experiment and observation prove that on the one hand
the quantity of matter, and on the other hand the quantity
of energy also, remains constant, whatever the change in
form or in position ; but they also show that the universe
tends to a state of equilibrium, a condition in which its
heat will be uniformly distributed.

The heat of the sun and of all the stars seems to be
due to the transformation of their initial energy of mo-
tion, to molecular impacts ; the heat thus generated is
being constantly radiated into space, and this radiation
will go on until every sun is cooled down to the
temperature of space itself.

If we admit that the sciences of today, mechanics,
physics and mathematics, are trustworthy, and that
the laws which now control the operations of nature
and of reason are permanent, this must be the fate of
the universe.

Far from being eternal, the earth on which we live has
had a beginning. In eternity a hundred million years, a
thousand million years or centuries, are as a day. There
is an eternity behind us and before us, and all apparent
duration is but a point. A scientific investigation of na-
ture and acquaintance with its laws raises, therefore, the
question already raised by the theologians, whether Plato,
Zoroaster, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, or
some young seminarist who has just taken orders : " What
was God doing before the creation of the universe, and

OMEGA. 279

what will he do after its end?" Or, under a less anthro
morphic form, since God is unknowable : " What was the
condition of the universe prior to the present order of
things, and what will it be after this order has passed
away ? "

Note that the question is the same, whether we admit a
personal God, reasoning and acting toward a definite end,
or, whether we deny the existence of any spiritual being,
and admit only the existence of indestructible atoms and
forces representing an invariable sum of energy.

In the first case, why should God, an eternal and
uncreated power, remain inactive ? Or, having remained
inactive, satisfied with the absolute infinity of his na-
ture which nothing could augment, why did he change
this state and create matter and force?

The theologian may reply : " Because it was his good
pleasure. " But philosophy is not satisfied with this
change in the divine purpose. In the second case, since
the origin of the present condition of things only dates
back a certain time, and since there can be no effect
without a cause, we have the right to ask what was the
condition of things anterior to the formation of the
present universe.

Although energy is indestructible, we certainly cannot
deny the tendency toward its universal dissipation, and
this must lead to absolute repose and death, for the con-
clusions of mathematics are irresistible.

z8o OMEGA.

Nevertheless, we do not concede this.

Why?

Because the universe is not a definite quantity.

It is impossible to conceive of a limit to the extension
of matter. Limitless space, the inexhaustible source of
the transformation of potential energy into visible motion,
and thence into heat and other forces, confronts us, and
not a simple, finished piece of mechanism, running like a
clock and stopping forever.

The future of the universe is its past. If the universe
were to have had an end, this end would have been reached
long ago, and we should not be here to study this
problem.

It is because our conceptions are finite, that things have
a beginning and an end. We cannot conceive of an abso-
lutely endless series of transformations, either in the future
or in the past, nor that an equally endless series of mate-
rial combinations, of planets, suns, sun-systems, milky
ways, stellar universes, can succeed each other. Never-
theless, the heavens are there to show us the infinite.
Nor can we comprehend any better the infinity of space
or of time ; yet it is impossible for us to conceive of a
limit to either, for our thought overleaps the limit, and is

OMEGA. 281

impotent to conceive of bounds beyond which there is no
space nor time. One may travel forever, in any direc-
tion, without reaching a boundary, and as soon as anyone
affirms that at a certain moment duration ceases, we refuse
our assent ; for we cannot confound time with the human
measures of it.

These measures are relative and arbitrary ; but time
itself exists, like space, independently of them. Suppress
everything, space and time would still remain ; that is to
say, space which material things may occupy, and the pos-
sibility of the succession of events. If this were not so,
neither space nor time would be really measurable, not
even in thought, since thought would not exist. But it is
impossible for the mind even to suppress either the one or
the other. Strictly speaking, it is neither space nor time
that we are speaking of, but infinity and eternity, rela-
tive to which every measure, however great, is but a
point.

We do not comprehend or conceive of infinite space or
time, because we are incapable of it. But this incapacity
does not invalidate the existence of the absolute. In con-
fessing that we do not comprehend infinity, we feel it
about us, and that space, as bounded by a wall or any
barrier whatever, is in itself an absurd idea. And we are
equally incapable of denying the possibility of the exist-
ence, at some instant of time, of a system of worlds whose
motions would measure time without creating it. Do our

282

OMEGA ,

OMEGA. 283

clocks create time ? No, they do but measure it. In the
presence of the absolute, our measures of both time and
space vanish ; but the absolute remains.

We live, then, in the infinite, without doubting it for
an instant. The hand which holds this pen is com-
posed of eternal and indestructible elements, and the
atoms which constituted it existed in the solar nebula
whence our planet came, and will exist forever. Your
lungs breathe, your brains think, with matter and forces
which acted millions of years ago and will act endlessly.
And the little globule which we inhabit floats, not at the
center of a limited universe, but in the depth of infinity,
as truly as does the most distant star which the telescope
can discover.

The best definition of the universe ever given, to which
there was nothing to add, is Pascal's, " A sphere whose
center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."

It is this infinity which assures the eternity of the uni-
verse.

Stars, systems, myriads, milliards, universes succeed
each other without end in every direction.

We do not live near a center which does not exist,
and the earth, like the farthest star, lies in the fathom-
less infinite.

No bounds to space. Fly in thought in any direction
with any velocity for months, years, centuries, forever,
we shall meet with no limit, approach no boundary,

284 OMEGA.

we shall always remain in the vestibule of the infinite
before us.

No bounds to time. Live in imagination through
future ages, add centuries to centuries, epoch to epoch,
we shall never attain the end, we shall always remain in
the vestibule of the eternity which opens before us.

In our little sphere of terrestrial observation we see
that, through all the transformations of matter and mo-
tion, the same quantity of each remains, though under
new forms. Living beings afford a perpetual illustration
of this : they are born, they grow by appropriating sub-
stances from the world without, and when they die they
break up and restore to nature the elements of which they
are composed. But by a law whose action never ceases
other bodies are constituted from these same elements.
Every star may be likened to an organized being, even as
regards its internal heat. A body is alive so long as respi-
ration and the circulation of the blood makes it possible
for the various organs to perform their functions. When
equilibrium and repose are reached, death follows ; but
after death all the substances of which the body was
formed are wrought into other beings. Dissolution is
the prelude to recreation. Analogy leads us to believe
that the same is true of the cosmos. Nothing can be
destroyed.

There is an incommensurable Power, which we are
obliged to recognize as limitless in space and without be-

OMEGA. 285

ginning or end in time, and this Power is that which
persists through all the changes in those sensible appear-
ances under which the universe presents itself to us.

For this reason there will always be suns and worlds,
not like ours, but still suns and worlds succeeding each
other through all eternity.

And for us this visible universe can only be the chang-
ing appearance of the absolute and eternal reality.

It is in virtue of this transcendent law that, long
after the death of the earth, of the giant planets and the
central luminary, while our old and darkened sun was
still speeding through boundless space, with its dead
worlds on which terrestrial and planetary life had once
engaged in the futile struggle for daily existence, another
extinct sun, issuing from the depths of infinity, collided
obliquely with it and brought it to rest !

Then in the vast night of space, from the shock of
these two mighty bodies was suddenly kindled a stupen-
dous conflagration, and an immense gaseous nebula was
formed, which trembled for an instant like a flaring
flame, and then sped on into regions unknown. Its tem-
perature was several million degrees. All which here
below had been earth, water, air, minerals, plants, atoms;
all which had constituted man, his flesh, his palpitating

286 OMEGA.

heart, his flashing eye, his armed hand, his thinking
brain, his entrancing beauty ; the victor and the van-
quished, the executioner and his victim, and those in-
ferior souls still wearing the fetters of matter, all were
changed into fire. And so with the worlds of Mars,
Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the rest. It was the resur-
rection of visible nature. But those superior souls which
had acquired immortality continued to live forever in
the hierarchy of the invisible psychic universe. The
conscious existence of mankind had attained an ideal
state. Mankind had passed by transmigration through
the worlds to a new life with God, and freed from the
burdens of matter, soared with an endless progress in
eternal light.

The immense gaseous nebula, which absorbed all
former worlds, thus transformed into vapor, began to turn
upon itself. And in the zones of condensation of this
primordial star-mist, new worlds were born, as heretofore
the earth was.

So another universe began, whose genesis some future
Moses and Laplace would tell, a new creation, extra-
terrestrial, superhuman, inexhaustible, resembling neither
the earth nor Mars, nor Saturn, nor the sun.

And new humanities arose, new civilizations, new van-
ities, another Babylon, another Thebes, another Athens,
another Rome, another Paris, new palaces, temples, glories
and loves. And all these things possessed nothing of

OMEGA.

287

the earth, whose very memory had passed away like a
shadow.

And these universes passed away in their turn. But
infinite space remained, peopled with worlds, and stars,
and souls, and suns ; and time went on forever.

For there can be neither end nor beginning.

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